Chrono Trigger
by Magus523
Summary: A novelization of the video game.
1. Prologue

**__**

PROLOGUE 

****

DECEMBER 31, 1999 AD 

Bob's day was going great. His wife was happy, his kids were happy, and he had had a great day at work. Now, he was going to a party. He planned to arrive at Midnight on the dot. It was a tradition of his for New Year's Parties, and this one was even more so because it was a new Millenium. 

There was Mike's house, right over there. Bob prepared to park his car. Suddenly, he got a bad feeling... like something was about to happen. On a sudden thought, he looked down. A small, golden crack was running through the ground near his foot. _What the..._ He never had a chance to finish that thought. The crack suddenly grew bigger, until it was as big as him. Then even bigger, until it was as big as a house. Then it erupted into a giant chasm. The last thing Bob ever saw before plunging into the Earth's core was a huge beast, like a gigantic insect... 

Mike and the others screamed at the chasm outside. The screams grew louder as IT rose. It was like a huge bug, with a back covered in millions of spikes, like a porcupine's. The... THING made no sounds. It simply annihilated. Thousands of fireballs rained from the heavens, destroying everything. The destruction spread all across the globe, until planet Earth was nothing but a dead, wasted husk. And IT rejoiced. 

NOTE: Chrono Trigger and all related things are copyright Square. I am not making any money off this, so don't sue. This Fanfic may only be displayed on the following sites: Fanfiction.net, my home page (www.magus-castle.cityslide.com) and the message boards at Superbard.com and gamemasters.com. If it is found anywhere else, please tell me. Oh, and one more thing: Flames will be deleted. And yes, there IS a difference between "Constructive Criticism" and Flames. I welcome the first and despise the second. Thank you. 


	2. Chapter 1: The Princess Problem

**__**

Chapter 1: The Princess Problem 

****

JANUARY 10, 1000 AD 

"Crono..." The voice came through the darkness. "Crono!" More insistent. "Wake up, Crono!" The red-haired teen sighed and opened his eyes. His mother was there, gently shaking him. She apparently had not noticed he was awake, and was growing a little irritated. "Crono, if you don't wake up right now I'll..." 

"It's okay, mom. I'm awake." Crono grunted. "Mind getting out so I can get dressed?" 

Crono's mother sighed, then agreed. "Fine." Before she left, though, she went over to the blinds and opened them wide. "Leene's Bell sounds so nice in the morning, doesn't it?" 

"AICH! Bright light! Bright light!" 

"Oh, please." Without another word, she walked downstairs. 

Crono was about to get dressed, when he saw the cat sitting on the rug, watching him. "Go on, get outta here. You're a girl too. Scoot!" The cat's only response was a sleepy purr. He sighed. "Fine, then. Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way..." 

"ROOOOOOWWWWR!!!!" Crono's mom turned to see the flying cat collide with the bottom of the stairs. "CRONO! How many times have I told you not to throw the cat?" No response. "Like that's new..." she muttered to herself as she went back to cooking breakfast. "Teenagers..." 

A few minutes later, the youth came running downstairs. "Hey, mom! What's for breakfast?" 

"Hardtack and swill. How many times have I told you to comb your hair?" 

Crono grinned cheekily. "It IS combed. Your hardtack and swill looks suspiciously like pancakes and sausage to me." 

His mom smiled. "I never could put anything past you." 

*** 

"Hey, that was great! Thanks!" Crono jumped to his feet. "But now, I have to go see the fair!" 

"AGAIN?" His mom groaned. "Honestly... well, here's your allowance at any rate." She tossed him a pouch. He caught it and opened it. 

"200 GP?! Mooooom!" 

"Hey, you know as well as I do that we agreed your allowance would be docked until it payed for the dishwasher incident." 

Crono grumbled. "I keep telling you, that was Lucca's fault! Why would I want to set a dishwasher on fire?" 

Crono's mom rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder... besides, I'm sure her parents are punishing her too. That reminds me, I promised Lara I'd help her take a visit to the park today." Crono remembered. About Lucca's mom, and her legs... 

"Well, you'd better not forget, or Lucca might blow up your washing machine too!" 

"She already did. Now scoot!" 

*** 

The fair was a little fun, as usual, but all the things were starting to get dull. Crono made his usual rounds. First to the strength tester, where he managed to accumulate 5 points before hitting his own foot with the hammer, then to the drinking contest. He lost that one by one can. He also noted a nearby little girl, crying about her lost cat. 

As he was crossing to the battle robot, a girl zoomed out of nowhere and he was unable to stop himself from smashing into her. "OW!!!!" Both of them went flying. The girl was the first to recover. "Hey! Where'd my pendant go?" 

Crono got up and walked over to her, where she was frantically searching the ground. "Hey, are you alright?" 

She muttered absently, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't tell me I lost it!" 

Crono saw something glittering on the other side of the large bell. It was her pendant! He quickly picked it up and walked back over. "Is this yours?" 

The girl did an ecstatic jump. "YES! Thank you! It's a family antique, and has a lot of sentimental value!" She hastily placed it back around her neck. "Oh, sorry I was so rude. My name's Marle. And you are...?" 

Crono grinned. "The name's Crono." 

"Crono, eh? Nice to meet you!" She suddenly seemed nervous. "Er... I'm kind of a stranger around here. Would you mind... showing me around?" 

Crono thought for a moment, then grinned again. Why not? "Sure, no problem!" 

Marle smiled, relieved. "Great! Where to first?" 

The next stop was the robot battle trainer, built by Crono's friend Lucca. Crono managed to defeat it, although his head was ringing from the spring-loaded boxing glove for a little while afterwards. Just outside, they spotted an old man looking around frantically. "Where'd my lunch go? It was here just a second ago!" Crono saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned. He laughed. Marle and the old man followed his gaze and also began laughing at the site of a tiny kitten attempting to drag a large pink package down an alley. 

Crono picked up the kitten, which gave a squeaky growl and sank its teeth into his knuckles. The teen winced. "Ow. I'm betting this little terror belongs to that little girl I met earlier. Come on, Marle." She followed as the old man waved goodbye before picking up his lunch again. 

The girl was very grateful. Crono and Marle went back to the first plaza, where a race was about to start. The four contestants were all in costumes. The first was in a Guardia jailer's armor, and labeled himself the Steel Runner. Second was a guy in a green reptilian costume, and called himself the Green Ambler. The third, G.I. Jogger, was dressed in medieval castle guard's gear from around 600 AD. And the last... Crono blinked. It was a cat. The roster said "Catalack". 

Marle giggled. "How much does it cost to bet?" She asked the man at the booth. 

"Nothing, ma'am! It's a special event!" 

Crono grinned. "My favorite kind. Put me down for the Green Ambler." 

The man wrote for a moment, then turned to Marle. "And you, miss?" 

"Catalack!" 

As it turned out, the winner was Catalack. Marle accepted 20 silver points as the prize. "So, what do we do with these things anyways? We've got 20 each now." 

"Well, we could exchange them for GP..." 

"Boring!" 

Crono smiled evilly. "Or... there's always that!" He pointed at a black tent in a small corner. The entance was a giant skull. "The Tent of Horrors!" 

Marle smiled. "Now, that's more fun! You sure it's safe?" 

"Yeah, I go there all the time. The proprietor, Norstein Bekkler, is a little creepy, but he's a good guy. You'll love it." 

*** 

The tent was like the inside of the dungeon. In the back, a large barred door housed a pair of glowing eyes. Marle stifled a scream as she saw the proprietor. Norstein Bekkler was a floating face, with two floating hands. 

"Welcome to Norstein Bekkler's Lab! The spine-tingling show is about to start!" 

Crono waved. "Hey, Bekkler! How ya been?" 

The head smiled. "Crono! Come to win another Poyozo Doll?" 

"Nah. The latest one has survived the cat so far. I think I'll try the 40-point game." 

Marle stared at him. "40?! But you only have 20!" 

Bekkler grinned at her. "Repeat customers get a discount, girl. Crono here has been coming here nearly every day since the carnival started." 

Crono handed over the points. "So, Bekkler, what's the game?" 

The weirdo flipped a switch, and the door in the back slammed open. "For 40 points! The game is... COPY CLONE!" Marle gasped as a perfect clone of Crono walked out of the back. Norstein laughed. "The game is simple! Mimic what the clone does!" Crono followed along perfectly until near the end, where he tripped and smashed head first into the clone. With a poof of smoke, it disappeared. "Too bad! Game over!" Bekkler turned to Marle. "Care to play a game?" 

Marle thought for a moment, then asked, "What are there?" 

He smiled. "There's the 10-point game, the 40-point game and the 80-point game. The names of the games and the prizes are surprises! Hey, I made a rhyme!" He seemed quite pleased with himself. 

Marle quickly figured out she had only one option. "10-point game, please!" 

Bekkler flipped another switch. "For 10 points! The game is... GUESS WHO!" Three identical soldiers walked out and named themselves as Vicks, Wedge & Piette. They then ran around in a mess until Marle wasn't sure who was who anymore. Bekkler called out "Find Vicks!" Marle looked around, then selected one. 

The soldier looked grumpy. "Is it THAT obvious?" 

Bekkler laughed. "You lost fair and square, boys! Here's the prize!" A fluffy object suddenly fell from the ceiling and landed on Marle's head. She picked it up and looked at it. It apppeared to be a stuffed representation of a Kilwala, an intelligent monster that got along well with humans. "It's a Poyozo Doll! It'll spruce up your room!" 

Marle smiled. "Great. I think I'll hang onto my other 10 points. Never know when I might need 'em." 

As Crono and Marle turned to leave, Bekkler yelled, "Hey, Crono! Didja hear? Lucca's setting up a new invention up north!" 

"Who's Lucca?" Marle asked Crono, who responded, "An inventor friend of mine. She's the one who built the battle robot. Shall we go see?" 

*** 

They quickly ran up north, stopping only so Marle could buy some candy. At the machine, they saw a small crowd, but none of the them seemed willing to test it. Crono couldn't really blame them, after what some of Lucca's other inventions had done. The scientest herself was yelling at people to come up. Nobody was listening. Then she saw Crono. "Crono! Get yer lazy butt up here and show them it's safe!" 

Crono reluctantly came forward. "I dunno, Lucca. Remember the moon rocket incident?" 

Lucca blushed. "Ah, that was a fluke. Get up there!" 

Crono thought desperately. "I heard these things cause brain damage!" 

"Nah, I tested it myself. No drain bamage whatsoever. Er... just move!" 

Crono limply shuffled onto the left pod. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna regret this?" The next thing he knew, he was on the right pod, and everybody was cheering. His eyes automatically found Marle, who was yelling at the top of her lungs. "GO CRONO! WOOHOO!" 

Lucca looked amazed. "It WORKED?!" 

Crono registered this. "Whaddaya mean, it worked?! I thought you said you tested this on yourself!" Lucca blushed. "Well... kinda. I ended up in the tree out front." Crono facepalmed and got down. 

Marle ran up. "Wow, what a kick! Can I try it too?" 

Lucca blinked. "Hey, Crono, where'd you find her?" Without waiting for approval, Marle dashed onto the right pod. Crono watched as the machine hummed, starting up... but nothing happened until her Pendant started to glow. 

Marle looked at it, confused. "Huh? What the-?" She broke off with a scream as she began to dissolve into floating blue sparkles. Desperately, she wrenched the pendant off, but it was too late. A blue portal appeared above the machine, and Marle disappeared into it, screaming. 

The crowds ran away from the machine like bats out of hell. Only Crono, Lucca and Taban, Lucca's Dad, were left. "Lucca... what the HELL just happened?!" Taban asked. 

"I don't know! Some wierd reaction to the pendant..." While they argued, Crono walked over to the Telepod. He knew what he had to do. And so, he picked up the Pendant and put it around his own neck. As he began to break up, he heard Lucca & Taban screaming at him... and then, darkness. 

****

JANUARY 10, 600 AD 

When Crono came to, he was lying on the floor of a meadow. What concerned him more, however, were the three Blue Imps who were going through his pockets. "HEY! Get away from me!" One of the imps ran for cover, but the other two prepared to fight. Crono frowned. "The hard way, eh? Fine by me." Ten seconds later, the Imps were minus their heads and Crono walked on. Once he crossed the bridge, a pair of Blue Eaglets dropped off two more battle-hungry Imps. They took no more effort than the other two. Crono stopped and wiped off his sword. "Messy buggers." From then on, it was smooth sailing to the exit. 

"... The HELL?!" Crono yelled. He saw his hometown, Truce Village, up ahead, but everything was different... more primitive. It was like he had gone back in time. "Maybe I did... no telling what that portal was," the teen mused. "Where to go for information?" he asked himself. He then smacked himself in the forehead. "Duh! The tavern!" 

At the tavern, Crono managed to pick up that he was in 600 AD, during the Mystic War. Crono struck up a friendship with a ragged-looking man with one eye. After a while, the man muttered to Crono, "Listen, bud. If I were you, I'd try to blend in a little more. People looking like you can get dragged off to the castle for being under suspicion of Mysticism. None of them ever come out again." 

Crono blinked. "Hey, thanks!" 

The man grunted. "Didn't cost me anything to say it." He got up and paid his tab, then turned to Crono again. "And whatever you do, stay away from the Cathedral. There's something wierd going on there." 

Without another word, the man walked out. Crono stared after him. "Strange guy..." 

The bartender chuckled. "Yeah. You'd never guess by looking at him that he was Toma Levine, eh?" Crono froze. That guy was Toma Levine? The famous explorer who had discovered practically the entire northeast world? 

Crono was jolted out of his thoughts by a pair of heavy metal-clad hands crashing down on his shoulders. Turning, he saw a couple soldiers frowning. The first one said, "Yeah, I think this is the one." The second agreed. "Yep. Let's take 'im to Queen Leene." Before Crono could protest, he was dragged off. 

*** 

The forest was more dangerous than Crono remembered. In his time, all you had to worry about were shroom-like Hetakes and giant Beetles, and rarely a mischevious Avian Chaos. In this time, though, both wild and tame Rolys lurked around every corner (the tame ones being ridden by Green Imps), and Blue Eaglets waited to dive. The soldiers however, made their way through with an efficiency that suggested they had done this many times. Crono looked at his wooden sword and reminded himself to get a better one sometime soon. 

At the castle, they were greeted by a young lady in a flowing white dress. "Queen Leene!" Both soldiers bowed. The Queen looked at Crono, who saw something... oddly familiar... 

The Queen turned to the guards. "The King would like to talk with him first. I shall be waiting in my room." She left through the large double doors behind her, and after a few minutes, the guards led Crono through as well. 

Crono barely stopped himself from gaping as he bowed before King Guardia XV, the greatest king in history. The monarch looked down at him. "So, you would be the one who rescued my wife from the canyon. I thank you." _WHAT?_ Crono almost yelled. The king went on. "I believe she would like to talk with you. Afterwards, you may rest in the knight's quarters, to the left of the front door." Crono bowed again, but he noticed to the left, the elderly Chancellor was glaring at both him and the guards with incredible hatred. _What's with him, I wonder? _

In the Queen's room, Crono found her attended by two maids. As soon as the Queen saw him, she asked the maids to leave. Once they were gone, she almost whispered "Crono... come here..." 

Crono straightened his back. "All right, ma'am. If you don't mind, I'd like to know how you know my name, and why you said I rescued you." 

The queen smiled. "You doof! Don't you recognize me? It's Marle!" 

Crono almost fell over. "Marle?!" 

She nodded. "When I came to, I was in the canyon. I fought my way out," 

"Wait wait wait. You fought your way out?" 

Marle smiled again, a little grimly this time. "Don't underestimate me, Crono. I'm a dead shot with a crossbow. Anyways, I fought my way out, then in the village, I was found by these guards who thought I was the Queen. They took me here, and it seems everybody else thinks so too. I thought you would follow me, so I told everybody that you got me out of the canyon and asked them to find you." 

She stopped for a moment before going on. "Crono... somehow, I knew you would come find me..." She stopped again, and Crono noticed the room was taking on an eerie green hue. Marle doubled over as if in severe pain. "AAH! Feels like... I'm being torn apart! Crono! HELP ME!" And with that, she exploded into nothingness. 

*** 

Crono was in shock as he walked down the stairs. Fortunately, it seemed nobody had heard. What had happened to Marle?! His musing was interrupted by a collision. It was Lucca! She got up and dusted herself off. "Watch where you're going, you doof! Where's the princess?" 

Crono mumbled "What princess?" 

Lucca snorted. "You dummy! Marle! She's princess Nadia!" And for the second time in five minutes, Crono was in shock. 

"Oh, this is SO not good..." he muttered. 

Lucca shook him by the shoulders. "Snap out of it! Where is she?" "She kinda... exploded..." 

Now it was Lucca's turn to be in shock. "She... exploded..." 

"Yeah..." 

"Crono?" 

"Yeah?" 

Lucca screamed, "WADDAYA MEAN SHE EXPLODED?!?!" 

Crono jumped and covered her mouth. "Shh! I was the only one there, and I do NOT wanna catch the blame for this." 

Lucca nodded, and Crono removed his hand. "Okay. So, any idea WHY she exploded?" 

Lucca frowned. "Easy. Queen Leene gets kidnapped. They look for her. They find Marle and call off search. Queen Leene dies, cutting off the royal line. Marle is blown out of existence, and within a few hours, paradox destroys the universe." 

Crono was gaping at the end of this. "Damn... that is NOT good..." 

Lucca jumped up. "Wait! If we find the real Queen and save her before she dies, we can change things back!" 

Crono nodded. "Let's look around. You check the kitchens, I'll check the knight's quarters." 

*** 

In the knight's quarters, several different topics of converation were going on. Crono picked a group and listened intently. "So, how long has Sir Cyrus been gone?" "Ten years now." "Yeesh. I mean, the Captain's great, but..." "I know. What about that friend of his, Glenn? Any sign of him?" "None." 

This didn't seem to be important. Crono moved on to another group. "Hey, whatever happened to that Mystic leader, Yakra?" "What, the guy who used to head the ones on this side of the bridge? Big, ugly yellow bug?" "Yeah, that's him. Nobody's seen him for a while, have they?" "No. He disappeared around the time the cathedral was refurbished and they started carting off people with Mystic sympathies to there." 

Now he was getting somewhere. Combined with the hint about the Cathedral from Toma... Crono decided it was time to go meet with Lucca. 

Lucca wasn't having much success at first, and she was quickly getting bored with the gossip about the rivalry between the head Chef and his brother, the Knight Captain. The most interesting thing she had heard so far was how the "Queen" has asked for something called "Eyes Cream". 

"Hey, did you hear? They carted off two guards just a few minutes ago!" Lucca's ears perked up and she silently moved closer to the pair of maids. "Really? Two guards?" "Yeah! Not only that, but they were the same two who brought in that guy!" "The one who wanted to see Queen Leene?" "Mm-hmm!" Lucca straightened up. That was just too much of a coincidence. Time to talk with Crono. 

After sharing their information, Crono & Lucca came to the same conclusion: Something fishy was definately going on at the Cathedral. Crono saw movement, and turned to see the Chancellor leaving the castle. "Hey, there goes the Chancellor. Come to think of it, he was giving me a funny look earlier, too..." 

Lucca resisted the urge to wallop him. "Then let's go! Cathedral, ho!" 

*** 

The duo quickly lost the Chancellor in Guardia Forest. Once they were through, though, the cathedral was easy to find. Inside, there wasno sign of anything wrong. Three nuns were cleaning the pews, and a fourth was dusting the piano. "Er... excuse me... has the Chancellor been here lately?" 

The nun being addressed looked up. "I'm afraid not." Crono sighed, then looked around. Nothing seemes unusual. Maybe they were wrong... 

Lucca, on the other hand was more suspicious. Her eyes soon caught a sparkle in the carpet, and she bent to pick it up. "Hey, Crono, come here." It was a coral hairpin. There was a design on it... was it? It was! "That's Guardia's royal crest!" 

"How observant of you!" came from a nun. Crono and Lucca looked up to see the nuns had surrounded them. Laughing evilly, the sisters were enveloped in blue fire, and morphed into Naga-Ettes, a half woman, half snake breed of Mystic! 

Lucca snarled. "A trap! Crono, use your Cyclone technique!" He nodded and jumped into the fray, then began whirling his sword around him at high speed. The effect was augmented greatly when Lucca pulled out a device that shot a small fireball onto the tip of the sword, creating a flaming wheel oof death. When Crono stopped, three Naga-Ettes were dead. So was his WOODEN sword, unfortunately. He glared at Lucca, who shrugged. "Don't blame me. Hey, weren't there FOUR of them?" 

The answer became evident when the fourth pounced on Lucca, hissing. Lucca fell back and screamed... which was when the man jumped out of the rafters and swung his sword upward, sending the split Naga-Ette through a window. "Lower thy guard, and thou art allowing the enemy in." Lucca's rescuer said. 

Lucca got up. "Thanks..." That was when she saw his face and screamed again. 

He was a frog. Actually, a more accurate description would be a half-frog, half-man. He blinked at her reaction. "My guise doth not incur thy trust, it seems..." He shrugged sadly, as if dismissing the thought. "Very well, do as thy please. But I shalt save the Queen." 

Crono walked up. "Hey, buddy, we never said anything. As it happens, we're trying to save her too. Maybe we could do it together?" 

The frogman blinked again. "I wouldst gladly accept thine offer, but I believe the lass may be having... problems..." 

Lucca made an obvious effort to control herself, and looked him in the face. "I can handle it. What's your name?" 

"'Frog' will do for now. Perhaps a hidden door lurks nigh? Let us search the environs." 

They all looked around, but none of them found anything. Crono grumpily cursed. "Damn it ALL!" On the last word, he pounded his fist onto the piano the nun had been dusting. The moment he did, a grinding sound was heard, and a section of wall disappeared, revealing a door. 

"Good job, Sir Crono!" Frog congratulated him, and they all ran in. 

*** 

Crono glanced to the left and dodged backwards. "Shh! Diablos!" Frog looked. Sure enough, to the left of the door were three of the grey gargoyle-looking mystics. 

Lucca pulled him back. "I'll handle this." With that, she pointed a strange apparatus at the three mystics. There was a green flash, and all three were asleep. "Hypno Wave. Let's go." The next door led to a choice: They could go left to the main hall, or straight up to the mezzanine. 

Crono turned to his allies. "Well? Any choices?" 

Frog murmured, "The mezzanine wouldst be mine choice." 

Lucca agreed, and Crono nodded. "Mezzanine it is, then." 

The first door they found was open a crack. Frog peeked in, then blanched. "Tis some sort of break room. Nay, lad and lass. Tis not a pretty sight. A Diablos leaves!" At this, the three ducked behind the door as it opened. The Diablos paused, but went around the mezzanine. The three followed at a safe distance to another door. 

Inside, the Diablos was praising a statue, along with two more and two Naga-Ettes. "Nothing for us in there." Crono muttered. "Now what?" They looked over the rail. Below, the main hall was patrolled by two Naga-Ettes and two purple snake Gnashers. There was another mezzanine across from the three. "We'd probably wanna check that other mezzanine out... but how, without alerting the guards?" 

Frog grinned. "Simple." He pointed at the large curtain hanging from the huge stained-glass window above the main hall. 

Five minutes and one nervous climb later, the three made it across and looked in the first door. It appeared to be some sort of treasure room. "Yowza!" Crono yelled. In the first chest, he found a steel samurai sword to replace the wooden one. The second chest held a healing potion, and the third some armor that fit only Lucca. 

"Must've been designed for Naga-Ettes," she mused as she looked around. The mirror next to the chests was crooked. On a hunch, she checked behind it. A small white bottle. As she put it in her pocket, three Henches charged in. 

"They're after the Bromide! Get 'em!" The first one charged Crono, ready to bash his head in-then gasped and slid off the blade, lifeless. The second ran at Frog and was split in two. The last one charged Lucca. For a moment, it thought it had her, helpless. Then it found itself looking into the barrel of a gun. "Surprise." 

*** 

The other door on the mezzanine was locked. After a moment's searching, Crono found a skull-shaped switch on the wall, and sure enough, it unlocked the door. Crono gasped as they walked in. It was the two soldiers that had brought him to Marle! They looked up as they heard him, and smiled. "Somebody's here to save us! Hey, wait, you're that kid we brought to see Queen Leene, right?" 

Frog's face was quizzical, but Lucca whispered "We'll explain later." 

Crono grinned at them. "No problem. Listen, go out of here and down to the main floor. Go through the door right in front of you. Turn left and kill the three Diablos, then right at the end to get out of here." The soldiers nodded and ran out. 

"Now, we need to get through that big door down below." Lucca whispered. "But those stinking snakes are guarding it. Any ideas?" 

Crono grinned. "Of course. Be ready to jump." Before either she or Frog could respond, he dug his sword into the carpet and brought it forward, shooting a Ki wave forward that sliced through the huge curtain that they had climbed on before. Crono leaned over and called out in a perfect impression of a Hench's voice, "HEADS UP!" The curtain covered all the guards, and Crono jumped down, followed by Frog and Lucca. The three quickly ran through the door before any of the guards got loose. 

Up the next staircase, they could go left or right. Both had staircases going down, but the left one had a Hench sleeping at the bottom, so they chose the right. The moment they trod on the first step, the staircase turned into a slide, and down they went. The noise alerted a Hench, who tried to make a dramatic entrance sliding down the rail-and hit his head on the floor, knocking himself out. 

The next room had a couple giant bats on the ceiling, but nothing more except another skull-switch. Crono shrugged and hit it... which was a bad move, as the alarm went off and the bats dove for his neck. Crono easily diced them, but the damage was done. The next room was a long hall, with three Henches blocking the way. Easily dealt with. Midway, a note was pinned to the right wall: No Entry. Lucca paused. "Yeah, right. How much ya wanna bet Yakra's back there?" 

At the end of the hall was a door on the left wall. The next room was empty, except another skull switch. "Better not," Crono cautioned. "Until we know what it does." 

Now, they were at the bottom of the stairs to the right of the entrance, and that one Hench was still sleeping! Frog put his blade to its throat and looked at Crono, who shook his head. "Nah. Let's question him instead." Frog nodded and shook the Hench. 

It grunted, and its eyes went wide open. "I'll say this for you. You know what you're doing!" 

Frog glared. "What be thy name, slime?" 

The Hench gulped. "Murray. Murray the Midgit. Please don't kill me." Midgit? Crono looked closer, and saw that the too-big armor made it look bigger than it actually was. 

Frog was not impressed. "What be the way to Yakra?" 

Murray looked at the blade, gulped again, and answered. "B-behind me, a switch. Opens a room at the top of the entry stairs. Inside... a piano. Opens door next to note in back hall. Heavily guarded." 

Crono looked at him, surprised. "Hey, why'd you tell us it was guarded? You could have kept that quiet and has us wiped out by surprise." 

Murray shook. "L-look, I'm not a f-fanatic like the others here. I was d-drafted, and these b-bums never did anything for m-me. Quite the opposite, actually. P-please don't kill me." 

Frog scowled. "Does the Queen still live?" 

Murray looked at him hopefully. "Yeah, she should, if you hurry. The boss came in just a few minutes ago, and he always takes an hour at least to prepare... sacrifices..."

Frog almost screamed with horror, but Crono interrupted him. "Murray. When Frog removes his sword, you will leave this place and never come back. Do you hear me?" Murray nodded. 

Frog disgustedly removed his sword, and Murray ran up the stairs like a bat out of hell. "Cowardly vermin." 

Crono glared at him. "It's better then being an evil fanatic like the rest." 

While the two bickered, Lucca went back and pressed the skull switch, then herded them into the piano room. Three Henches and two Diablos were waiting there. "There they are! Kill 'em!" Their leader said this from behind an altar in the center. Crono and Lucca wiped out a Hench and a Diablo with Fire Whirl, but another Hench snuck up behind Lucca. It was about to bash her, when something yanked it back. Lucca turned to see Frog pull it towards him with his tongue, then chop the enemy in half with his sword. Lucca restrained herself from gagging and blew the other Diabloses head in. Crono took care of the leader, then calmly banged on the piano. 

Sure enough, when they returned to that note, there was a door. The note now read "Try hard enough, and you will find a way in." Inside, there was a long hall blocked by two Henches and two Naga-Ettes. Frog snarled. "Queen Leene must be behind yon door, along with the vermin champion!" 

Crono grinned. "Then we'll have to go in there, won't we?" 

*** 

"Prepare yourself, Queen Leene. It is time!" The false Chancellor looked at the queen, bound to the altar, and smirked. "You shall be sacrificed to the great-" He was cut off by the doors barging open. "WHAT?! Who DARES?" Frog, Crono and Lucca charged. With one swing each, Crono and Frog severed Queen Leene's bonds. 

She sat up. "Frog! But who are-" 

Frog stopped her. "Your majesty, stand back and allow us the honor of slaying this miscreant!" 

Leene nodded and ran near the door. "Be careful!" 

The Chancellor was fuming. "That's what you think, fools! None of you will leave here alive!" He walked to the front of the altar, facing them. "Stupid toad, always interfering! I think it's time you shuffled off this mortal coil, yes! TRUE... FORM... CHANGE!" With that, he began spinning wildy in place, and there was a huge flash of light. When it dimmed, Yakra, the mystic leader, stood there. 

With a scream, Yakra charged at Frog, knocking him on his butt. He ricocheted around the room, flattening all of them, before stopping. Instantly, Frog and Crono leapt to their feets. "Sir Crono! Dost thou know the X-Strike technique!" 

Crono grinned. "Let's go!" With simultaneous battle cries, Crono and Frog charged at perpendicular angles, ripping a cross open on the monster's back. Yakra screamed again and spat an iron ball at Frog, who stumbled. Not stopping, Crono performed the Cyclone, which Lucca turned into a Fire Whirl. Yakra keeled over, and for a moment, Crono thought they had won. 

Then Lucca saw his back bulging in two places, and screamed. "Watch out, Crono! It's his specialty-the Needle Attack!" Too late. The bulges fired, and a grey mass of spines descended on Crono. Lucca pulled out the tonic they had found in the treasure chamber and spilled it over her friend, but Yakra was already charging... 

That was when Frog's tongue grabbed him by the waist and pulled him in. Frog swung, and Crono looked up to see Yakra's head fly past him and smack into the wall. With several explosions, Yakra's body began glowing an unearthly rainbow, and his corpse vanished in a blast of light. 

Queen Leene smiled. "You saved me. Thank you... all of you." Crono bowed, and Lucca attempted to curtsy but ended up falling on her rear. Everybody laughed at that. Crono saw a treasure chest moving around behind the altar, and opened it. Everybody jumped as an old man, bound and gagged, jumped out. Queen Leene was the first to recover. "The real chancellor! I wondered where he was!" The others quickly untied him. 

"Phew, thank you! That monster's had me crammed in there for days!" Frog smiled grimly and pointed at Yakra's head, still lying in the corner. The chancellor blanched. "Um... very good... er, shall we return to the castle?" 

King Guardia was overjoyed to have his Queen back, but confused, as was the Queen herself when she heard of Marle. Crono and Lucca told them an edited version of their story, making it sound like they came from this time and Marle was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frog listened as well. When they finished, he came forward and bowed in front of the throne. 

"My duty to protect thee has failed, my queen. Yakra's foul deed would not have occured if I had been on my guard. I hath disgraced thee." Simultaneously, the King and Queen stood up. 

"Frog! No!" But Frog took no heed, bowed once more, and left. 

In Queen Leene's room, Marle was waiting in a chair. "Uh... hi, guys..." Lucca smiled. 

"Welcome back, Princess Nadia." Marle blushed. "Oops... figured it out, huh?" Cronoo smiled and nodded. Marle looked down. "I'm princess Nadia. My father is King Guardia XXXIII. Listen... the reason I called myself by my middle name was because... I didn't think you would help me around if you knew..." 

Crono grinned and lightly bonked her on the head. "Yeah, right. That kind of thing doesn't matter. Now, let's go home." 

***

On the way down, Crono and Lucca told Marle the story of Frog, Queen Leene and Yakra. As they passed by the throne, the King & Queen commented on the resemblance. When they walked outside, Frog was waiting. The first thing he did was look closely at Marle, who responded with an "EEEEEK!" Frog was unperturbed. 

"Indeed, your resemblance to the Queen is uncanny, lass." He then turned to Crono. "Sir Crono, thou hast the makings of a master swordsman! Fare thee well, all!" And he left. Lucca looked after him as he disappeared into the forest. 

"Froggy... you weren't such a bad guy either..." That was when Marle whacked her with her crossbow hilt. 

By mutual consent, they spent the night at the inn. When they came down, Crono spotted a familiar face at the bar. "Hey, man!" He ran up. Marle and Lucca stayed back. 

"Who's the tramp?" 

"No idea." Toma looked up. 

"Hey, kid. Heard something went down with you guys at the Cathedral. Good work." Crono grinned. 

"Yeah. Yakra's dead meat." Toma looked over at Lucca. 

"Hm, you and the girl with glasses. That other girl must be the one who looked like the Queen." Crono blinked. 

"Damn... news travels fast around here." Toma grinned. 

"Yeh. They're burning the Cathedral today." He got up, ready to go. "In case you were wondering, your froggy friend swam to the south continent. Bridges out don't mean nothing to him." Toma walked by Marle and Lucca, then turned back to Crono. "Oh, by the way... rumors say Yakra had a kid. Be on your guard." He left. 

Marle looked at Crono."Who was that wierdo?" 

"Oh, just a friend by the name of Toma Levine." 

*** 

They made it through the Canyon easily, with their only problem being a mischievious Poly. At the spot where they came in, Marle suddenly stopped. "Hey, wait a second. How do we get back?" 

Lucca responded, "One step ahead of ya, Marle. Observe!" With that, she pulled a white rod from her pocket, about a foot long. There was a yellow star at one end and a blue orb at the other. She jammed the star-end into the spot where they had come out, and the portal reopened! 

Lucca smirked at Crono & Marle's stares. "My analysis of this phenomenon allowed me to create this 'Gate Key'. Now we can use these whenever we please." 

Marle stopped staring. "Lucca, you're amazing!" 

The other girl cackled. "Ain't it the truth!" She stopped. "I mean... uh..." 

Marle frowned, mock-grumpily. "Cut the false modesty! You have a real gift! I'd trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!" 

Crono stepped up. "This conversation is fascinating, girls, but we need to get home." And with that, they jumped in. 


	3. Chapter 2: Jailhouse Blues

**__**

Chapter 2: Jailhouse Blues 

****

JANUARY 11, 1000 AD 

Taban sighed as he puttered with the Telepod. That fool daughter of his, always running off on these crazy expeditions. Would she never grow up? And now she dragged Crono and that other girl into one as well! His musing was cut off by the large rushing sound, followed by the three adventurers falling on him. 

Crono grunted. "Needs work, Lucca." 

The girl sheepishly muttered, "Sorry, dad." 

After they were off, Taban held up his hands. "Don't tell me. I don't even wanna know. Crono, you take this girl home, then go home yourself. Lucca, you're grounded. Let's go!" With that, he grabbed Lucca by the ear and dragged her off, while Marle stared, then turned to Crono. 

"Is he always like this?" 

He sighed. "When he's grumpy, yeah. If you think that's bad, you should see my mom." 

She shuddered. "I'll take your word for it." 

The trip through the forest was mostly uneventful. The only trouble they had with the wildlife was a grumpy Avian Chaos and a pair of giant beetles. When they reached the castle, the guards' eyes bugged out. "Princess Nadia! Where on earth have you been?" 

As she was about to explain, the Chancellor burst in. Crono noticed a resemblance between him and the one from 600 AD. "There he is! Seize him!" Before either of them could move, soldiers had surrounded Crono. 

Marle exploded. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Drop him NOW!" 

The soldiers let go, and the Chancellor was livid. "IDIOTS! Detain him!" The soldiers surrounded him again. 

"DROP HIM!" 

"DETAIN HIM!" 

"DROP HIM!" 

"DETAIN HIM!" 

Finally, one soldier knocked Crono out. Marle screamed. "Crono!" 

*** 

"This trial is now in session. The honorable Judge Banon presiding." Crono was led to the front in chains. He saw the chancellor standing to the left of the judge, and another man to the right. This man came up to Crono. 

"I'm your lawyer, Pierre. I'm a friend of your mother, Crono, so don't worry, I'll get you out." 

The Chancellor broke in. "Get to yer place, Pierre!" Pierre glared at him, then went back. The Chancellor turned to the Judge. "We intend to prove that Crono here kidnapped the princess." 

Pierre broke in. "Absurd! There is no evidence to support this!" 

The judge looked down. "Care to respond, Chancellor?" 

The Chancellor snarled, "It all started when you collided at the fair! What a coincidence that they hit each other right there!" 

Pierre broke in again. "Absurd!" 

The Chancellor grinned nastily. "Well, Crono? Who started this, you or Nadia?" 

Crono thought. _If I say it was her, he'll have "eyewitnesses" say I was lying. But if I say I started it..._ He had an inspiration. "Well, it was kinda both our faults." 

The Chancellor wasn't expecting that. His jaw dropped. "WHAT?" 

Crono barely managed to stop himself from grinning. He looked at the Chancellor seriously. "We were both going too fast, and neither of us was watching where we were going." 

Pierre gave him a silent thumbs-up. "There was no reason at all for this! My client has no bad history whatsoever!" 

The Chancellor decided to try sarcasm. "Oh, I suppose he goes around bringing little girls their kitties back?" 

Pierre smirked. "Yes, actually. Would you like me to call the girl as a witness?" There was laughter from the audience, and even the Judge had to conceal a smile. 

The Chancellor choked, then straightened up. "No motive, you say? What about ransom?" He turned to Crono. "Crono, her wealth tempted you, did it not?" 

Crono instinctively knew how to react. "Hell no! Any time I need money, I can just work part-time for Mr. Bekkler at the carnival!" 

The Chancellor choked again. "You WORK for that... freak?!" 

Judge Banon frowned. "Chancellor, I'll thank you not to insult the jury members." The Chancellor looked in the jury box, and sure enough, Norstein Bekkler was there, giving him the floating finger. 

Pierre spoke up. "I believe we have established enough." 

The Judge agreed. "Jury members?" The vote was unanimous: Not Guilty. Judge Banon rapped his gavel. "Very well. However, the issue stands that they did disappear together. Three days solitary confinement as punishment." 

The Chancellor looked like he was having a heart attack. "Your honor, I-" 

The Judge glared at him. "Chancellor, I feel it is my duty to inform you that if you do not shut up this instant, I may be compelled to throw my gavel at you. This issue was completely ridiculous, and should NEVER have been brought to court." The Chancellor looked like a fish out of water. 

As the guards stepped up to take Crono to the dungeon, Marle ran in. "Hey! Are you kidding? He should be set free right away!" 

The Judge looked unhappy. "I am sorry, princess, but there is nothing I can do. This comes from the King himself." 

"WHAAAT?!" 

At this point, King Guardia XXXIII himself came in. "Nadia, even a princess must abide by our laws. You know that." 

She was flabbergasted. "WHAT? But..." 

The king had had enough. "That will be all, Nadia! We're leaving! Take him to the dungeons!" 

Crono was led across the bridge to the prison towers by two guards and the Chancellor, who had a disturbingly nasty grin. At the front office, the supervisor stood up. "So, this is the swine who kidnapped the princess!" He obviously had opinions. 

The Chancellor smirked. "His execution is in three days. Do not let him out of your sight!" 

"WHAT?!" Crono screamed at him. "YOU LYING BASTARD, THERE'S NO EXECUTION!!!" 

The Supervisor also was surprised. "Execution? Strange, I don't remember..." He caught the Chancellor's glare, and slowly grinned evilly. "Oh, THAT execution! Yessir!" 

Crono's protests were cut off by the whack to the back of his head. 

*** 

_Ugh... what hit me... oh, yeah..._ Crono shook his head to clear out the fog. He was on a cot in a dirty cell. There was a silver mug on a table, and next to him was a small package. 

The guards noticed he was awake, and yelled, "Some symphathizers left that for you, ya stinkin' con." Crono ignored them and opened it up, then stared. It was a small bomb! There was a watch as well, and a note. He read it quickly. 

_Crono, we're busting you out. Use that bomb to blow open your cell at 7:00 PM. Lucca, Marle, Taban & Bekkler_

Crono stared for a moment, then looked at the watch. "Shit." It was 7:10. 

*** 

Marle looked around nervously to make sure nobody was watching, and opened the gate to allow Lucca in. "Hurry! If we get caught..." 

"Yeah, yeah." Lucca muttered. "Which way to Prison Tower?" 

"Left and forward, left door. It's about a ten-minute climb & walk." 

Lucca facepalmed. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" 

Marle looked offended. "I didn't think it was that important! Sheesh!" 

Lucca sighed. "I hope my dad and Bekkler can keep the distraction up long enough..." 

*** 

The Chancellor bolted upright in his bed. What was that loud rushing noise he had just heard? His question was answered when a large fireball came rushing through his window and planted itself squarely on his rug. "AUGH! GUAAAAAARRRRRDS!!!!!!" 

*** 

"I swear, Crono, if I get thrown in jail for this-!" Taban cursed loudly as he loaded another firebomb into the catapult. 

Norstein Bekkler cackled loudly as he mixed up more ammo. "Who cares! If I get thrown in for life, it'll be worth it! I wish I could see the look on that idiot's face!" 

*** 

KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!! 

The explosion blasted both guards into the opposite wall, knocking them out. Crono dashed out and checked the cell to his left. The door was jammed. Shrugging, he ran out the door to the right. Up the stairs, he kept going down the next set. The Blue Shield Guards to his left didn't care. For mimimum wage, they weren't doing anything unless he attacked them. 

After crossing a bridge, he found himself at the start of a long hall with a single guard. He crept up behind him and whacked him with the butt of his sword, knocking him out. Searching the guard found a Mid Tonic, a powerful healing potion. At the end, he found a torture chamber. Guillotines, iron maidens, racks... Crono jumped as he saw a boy about his age in one of the guillotines! 

"He... help me!" The boy called. Crono hesitated for a moment, then freed him. The kid stood up. "Thanks! I went on a shopping spree and ended up in here, then the Chancellor was gonna execute me without a trial!" Crono nodded. 

"Yeah, he's a jerk. I'm escaping too, so why don't you come along?" The kid grinned. 

"Thanks! I'm Fritz." 

"Crono. Let's go!" As they turned to leave, a huge form stepped down the stairs. 

"So YOU'RE the escaped con!" Fritz screamed. It was an Omnicrone, a huge, armored Mystic with a big club. 

Crono smiled. "No trouble." He lunged, and his sword bit deep into its side. The Omnicrone attempted to squash him with the club, and hit its own foot. 

"YEOW! I'm not getting paid enough for this!" It ran. Crono looked cockily back at Fritz, who was openmouthed. 

"That's why you never need to worry about Omnicrones. They're tough SOBs, but they have the eyesight of a toadstool. Shall we go?" 

Back across the bridge, to the junction. This time Crono looked at the Blue Masks, then grunted and attempted to slice into one. His sword bounced off like rubber. "What the-?" One of them peeked out and hit him with a rock. "Hey!" 

The next time one did that, Crono was ready, and calmly chopped the guy in two. With it dead, he was free to run behind the other and take it out. Now, they could go up stairs to the left or right. Crono chose left. The first cell had a skeleton in it. The second, empty one was jammed. 

Down the stairs, up the stairs, another bridge. Midway across, Crono heard a shout, "The prisoner's escaping!" Fritz yelped as two guards came in from either side, cornering them. Crono took out the first with a slash to the head, but the other managed to give him a nasty cut on the arm before he was dispatched. Crono grunted, but kept going. 

The youth picked up three Mid Tonics from Jailers he knocked out in the u-turn hall following, then crossed another bridge back to the original tower. Two Blue Masks later, he could go left or right. Left. A pair of cells, with a gaping hole in the back of one. Looking out, he saw he might be able to climb down the wall... "Yeah, right." He snorted, walking back in. "Only in a fairy tale." 

*** 

Lucca finally found the bridge leading to Prison Tower, and ran down it at top speed. "Hope I'm not too late," she muttered as she ran. "We went to too much trouble. If you're dead, Crono, I'll kill you!" 

*** 

The Chancellor thought. Why would somebody attack now? And why only HIS room? Suddenly, he remembered. The prisoner! "Better take the secret passage..." he murmured to himself as he slinked away from the guards trying to put out the fire. 

*** 

"Right, that's it, Bekkler! We need to pull out now, or we'll be seeing a jail cell ourselves!" Taban called back. Norstein Bekkler sighed, then agreed. 

"All right, Taban. Let's go dump this thing into the ocean." 

"WHAAAAT?! Do you know how long I've worked on this?" 

"And what happens when the guards search the village and find this in yer backyard, hmmm?" 

Taban sighed. "I hate it when you're right." 

*** 

The moment Crono burst into the office, the corrupt Supervisor jumped to his feet and ran. Crono was about to give chase, but he heard sounds of a fight up the stairs. A moment later, the Supervisor fell back down with an ugly welt on his head, and Lucca ran in. "Lucca!" 

"Crono! Gee, I guess you didn't need my help after all!" She rummaged through the supervisor's pockets. "5 Mid Tonics... and a pamphlet. 'Dragon Tank Owner's Manual.' Hey, who's that guy?" 

Crono looked back. "His name's Fritz. Locked up by the Chancellor without a trial. Now, let's go!" They ran up the stairs, and started across the final bridge. Halfway across, however, a loud rumbling topped them. 

"What the hell was that?" Lucca muttered. Crono and Fritz shrugged. The mystery was solved at the end of the bridge, as a huge mechanical Dragon Tank rolled out! 

Behind it, the Chancellor screamed. "Go, Dragon Tank! Crush them all!" 

*** 

Lightning-quick, Crono analyzed the situation. The Tank appeared to have three weak points: The wheels, the head, and one point on the back. The rest of it looked too heavily armored to penetrate. "Go for the wheels!" He yelled to Lucca, then charged. Unfortunately, the Tank charged at the same time, and it was bigger. Both he and Lucca were knocked for a loop. Shaking his head to clear out the cobwebs, Crono used the Slash technique to drive a Ki wave through one wheel. The Dragon Tank beeped, and suddenly, the damage was healed! 

Lucca pulled out the manual she had gotten from the director, and read it. "Says the Healing System is located in the head!" Crono nodded. 

"All right, then. FIRE WHIRL!" As they performed the Double Tech, Crono expected to hear explosions. Instead, the tank blew a gust of its own fire at his face, completely undamaged! "HUH?!" 

"Oops, sorry! It says it's immune to fire!" Lucca called. 

"NOW she tells me..." the teen said as he rolled his eyes and drove his sword into the open mouth. He heard sparking from inside and smelled burning. Crono removed the sword and jumped off just in time, as Lucca emptied her gun into the head, causing it to explode violently. 

"All right!" Crono cheered. "Now, for the wheels! CYCLONE!" The spinning sword technique did its work, and both wheels fell off and toppled over the edge. The tank wasn't done yet, though. A salvo of missiles launched from the back and crashed into Lucca. 

"Lucca!" As Crono turned, a laser in the wheel socket hit him in the leg. Wincing, he turned back. "Oh, I have so HAD IT with this thing!" Screaming a battle cry, Crono jumped onto the Dragon Tank's back and jammed his sword straight into the engine. As the explosions started all over the tank, Crono dramatically sheathed his sword and jumped back to Lucca and the cowering Fritz. 

The Chancellor ran back over. "Oh, no! They got the Dragon Tank! Fix it, quick!" But the Dragon Tank was beyond fixing. Even as the Chancellor and two of his flunkies ran up, the Tank groaned and toppled over the edge, dragging the Chancellor and flunkies with it. As they fell, the Chancellor yelled "Don't fool yourselves into thinking you've gotten away with thiiiiiiiissss..." 

Crono, Lucca and Fritz ran into the castle and down the stairs, then into the main entryway. Unfortunately, soldiers ran up and surrounded them just in front of the door. "Rats! So close!" Lucca snapped. 

"Unhand them at once!" All the soldiers turned and bowed as Princess Nadia walked up. "These are my friends! Have you no respect?!" Her tirade was cut off by the Chancellor's appearance behind her. _Whaaaat?! But he fell off the bridge!_ Crono thought. 

The Chancellor appeared hatefully smug. "Do as King Guardia XXXV says!" As he spoke, Marle's father walked in as well. 

"Nadia, what are you doing? The throne must come before your personal wishes, you know that!" 

Marle was flabbergasted. "What?! Just because I have a title doesn't mean I'm not a person!" 

"You pick up strange notions wandering outside!" 

"It's not strange notions! It's called comon sense!" With that, Marle threw off her dress, revealing the clothes she had worn earlier underneath it. She ran over to Crono & Lucca, and the three of them ran into the forest with Fritz. 

"Don't let them escape! After them!" The Chancellor and the soliders pursued, leaving the King alone. 

"...Princess Nadia..." 

*** 

The moment they had entered the forest, Fritz had dived behind a bush. Crono, Marle and Lucca ran down a path, then stopped, moaning. A dead end! Behind them, they heard the Chancellor and soldiers. Suddenly, Lucca yelled, "A Gate!" 

The three examined it. Marle gave her opinion. "Let's go!' 

Lucca, however, was more nervous. "Are you crazy? We have no idea where it goes!" 

"Who cares? This place stinks anyway!" 

"This is completely illogical." 

Crono jumped in as tiebreaker. "Hate to say it, Lucca, but we don't have much choice if we wanna avoid the block! Let's GO!" He grabbed the Gate Key from her protesting hands, and just as the Chancellor came in, the three disappeared into the Gate. 

He didn't take it very well. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Future Is Now

**__**

Chapter 3: The Future Is Now 

****

JANUARY 11, 2300 AD 

"OOF!" The three landed in a heap. "Lucca, do you think you could fix this sometime soon?" came from Marle at the bottom of the pile. Dusting themselves off, they looked around. 

"Hm... at least we're inside a building this time." Crono observed. Lucca was more interested in details. 

"The technology here is so advanced... I'd say it's fairly obvious we're in the future." 

"But, how far?" Marle murmured. The other two shrugged. 

Crono noticed a strange door in the back. Black, with gold & silver markings all over it. "Hey, that looks like a box I found in the inn once." He tried to open it. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back. "Uh... what hit me?" Lucca and Marle were both standing over him. Lucca responded first. 

"There was this flash, and the door was covered with a pyramid of blue light. You got thrown back, and this wierd voice said 'This door is proteced by the seal'." 

"Huh." Crono grunted as he sat up. "I think we'd better leave those doors alone until we find a way to open them." The girls nodded, and the three went outside. 

"Holy shit." Lucca spoke for all of them. The world... was destroyed. Brown, cratered earth was disrupted by large pieces of broken machinery. The sky was covered with black clouds, and acidic-looking rain was broken occasionally by flashes of lightning. Nothing grew anywhere, and there were no animals. The only signs of life were a dome to the south similar to the one they had just exited, and a junked area that seemed to be a passage through the dead, grey mountains to the East. 

"What happened here?" Marle murmured, almost on the verge of tears. "What happened to the world?" Crono looked grim. 

"I don't know, Marle. But we'll find out. And when we do, we'll make whoever did this pay." 

"Hell yeah! No way anybody's gonna get away with this!" Lucca agreed. "Now, I think we should go to that second dome down there first." 

*** 

Inside the dome, the three discovered the sorrowful remnants of humanity. Filthy people in brown rags, huddled around aimlessly. A gloomy fog hung over the mess. As soon as they walked in, a man yelled out "New people here!" They were met with bored glances, then ignored. Crono decided to try and talk with the man at the entrance. 

"Hey, bud. What happened here, anyway?" The man looked at him incredulously, then laughed, a short, barking sound completely devoid of humor. 

"Where you been, under a rock? Same thing that happened everywhere else. Welcome to hell, buddy. Where ya from, anyways?" Crono thought, then responded. 

"Truce." The guy blinked. 

"Truce Dome? Where the hell is that? I've heard of Trann & Arris Domes, and then there's Bangor and Proto Domes, but they're deserted. And there's that other place..." He shuddered, then continued. "And there's the psycho's dome near Death Peak. But I ain't ever heard of no Truce Dome." Crono shrugged. 

"Hey, where can we get something to eat?" The man laughed again. 

"Eat? You crazy, man? Ain't nothing to eat anywhere." He suddenly looked at Crono sharply. "Wait... did you have food at this Truce Dome of yours?" Crono thought fast. "Er... we did, but we ran out. That's why we came out here." 

The man sighed, depressed. "Shoulda known. We ain't gonna get no breaks in this life." 

"Er... just asking, but how do ya live without food?" 

The man pointed at the far end of the dome. "See that machine? It's an Enertron. It gives you energy in an instant, but you stay hungry." He grunted. "Once, I was the best fighter in the world. I even made it to Arris Dome and back once. But now..." He snorted mockingly. "Wanna buy anything?" 

Lucca stepped up. "Let's see what you've got, pal." It turned out he had an assortment of guns. She selected one, then payed him. He looked at the money doubtfully. 

"You sure this is money? Ah, well, I need to lighten my stock anyways." As they turned to leave, he yelled, "Hey! Where ya going?" Crono turned halfway as he walked. 

"We're heading to that ruined passage over to the east." The man looked shocked, then took a long look at them, and his expression changed. 

"You three just might be able to do it. But be careful. The Mutants are tough fighters, and the Shadows are immune to ordinary weapons." Crono gave him a thumbs-up, and the three left. 

*** 

As they walked in, Crono saw a sign that said "Lab 16". There were piles of junk everywhere, and giant rats ran rampant. One of them jumped into Crono's pack and pulled out a Tonic. "HEY!" He attempted to give chase, but tripped over something and fell on his face. "D'oh!" Lucca and Marle were laughing hysterically. 

"Oh, haha, that was worth, heehee, a Tonic any day! Hahaha, Crono tripping over, hoohoo, a houseplant! WAHAHA!" 

A houseplant? Crono looked. It was a plant, yeah, but not any housplant he'd ever seen. Two vines grew out on opposite side of the main "body" almost like arm, while a large purple blossom was positioned like a head. Suddenly, a blue octopus jumped out of the blossom and latched onto Crono's head. "YOW!" Quickly, Marle pulled out a crossbow and fired a shot which hit the slimy thing straight through the brain. Crono pulled it off, then yelled, "The plant's in on it too!" They quickly made a salad out of it. "Okay, lesson one: Anything around here could be an enemy. Be on your guards." The girls nodded, and on they went. 

After a while, during which they fought more plants and octopi, the three found a sewer grate. As they started to walk past, something sprung out of it and caught Crono on the chin. The three turned and stared. It was a blob of light blue goo that seemed to be somehow alive. Crono grunted and swung his sword... which got stuck, doing no damage. 

"This must be on of the Shadows that guy told us about." Lucca reasoned, and tried a Fire Wave, which succeeded in melting the Shadow to nothing. 

Onward, past more Shadows, and past the huge monsters known only as Mutants. Finally, they came to the end of the road, and back out into the world. 

*** 

Ahead was another dome, and beyond that another Lab. South, on the coast, was a tiny dome, which looked like some kind of access point. Crono saw a sign: Sewer Access. The three shrugegd and entered the Dome. 

This place closely resembled Trann Dome, even down to the people. They expressed only mild interest in the newcomers. An old man slowly walked over. "I'm Doan, the leader here. Where ya from?" Crono told Doan much the same thing he had told the man in Trann. Doan shrugged. "Wish we had food. My son went down to the basement to see if he could find any, but he never came back." He gestured towards a woman and child. "Left his wife and baby. 'Spect we'll just starve once the Enertron runs out." 

Marle turned to Crono. "We can't just let them die! There's food in the basement, you said? Then we'll get it!" Without giving either of them a chance to react, Marle dragged Crono and Lucca down the porthole. Doan's eye twitched involuntarily. "Kids these days..." He muttered.

*** 

The first room had two... computers? side by side, with a door next to each. However, the section of the floor in front of the door on the right was gone. Lucca examined the computers. "These raise and lower the floors in front of the doors, but they need a password to open. Lucky for us this one was up." The left door led to a long series of walkways and ladders. On the way, Crono noticed a statue that looked like the giant rats they had seen in the lab. At the top, they entered a wide room, with one big door at the back. However, as they moved towards it, a huge robot fell out of the ceiling and knocked them all flying! 

"**Guardian activated. Executing Security program... executing Bit program...**" The three exchanged one glance, then lept to their feet, ready to fight. Two smaller robots of the same model floated down to the sides, and the fight began. 

"Aim for the big one!" Crono yelled as he charged, slicing the Guardian across the front. 

"**Warning! Guardian under attack! Executing Delta Force program...**" With those words, the three robots created a pyramid of light between them that blasted the three heroes with an incredible amount of energy. 

"Argh!" Crono grunted. Lucca was nearly unconscious, and Marle wasn't much better. 

"Crono! Do your Cyclone technique, but stay in one spot!" Marle called. Crono was confused. 

"What?!" 

"Just do it!" Shrugging, he complied. Marle shot a spray of silvery sparkles at his sword, and rainbow light swarmed over all three, healing them. Crono blinked. 

"What was that?" Marle grinned. 

"Aura Whirl. DUCK!" Crono did just in time, as a laser launched from one of the Bits went over his head. Lucca grunted. 

"Okay, new plan. Frag those things!" She emptied both barrels into the one on the left. It stumbled, but did not die. Crono jumped to the side and shot a Slash Ki-Wave that went through all three, bringing down the Bit Lucca shot and damaging the Guardian and other Bit. Before they could react, Marle took down the other Bit with her crossbow. Crono looked at the big Guardian. 

"All alone now, bud. Lucca! Fire Whirl!" The blazing attack simply rebounded off the armored shell. "D'oh!" 

"**Executing Revival program... execution complete in 5...**" Crono cursed. 

"Damn! We gotta bring this thing down before it revives those damned Bits!" He began prying at a knop on the front as big as he was. 

"**4...**" He kept prying. "**3...**" The knob came off, and he began hacking at the circuitry inside. "**2...**" He kept ripping stuff out, but it kept going. "**1...**"

There was enough room for him to fit in there now. He jumped in, and called, "Fire Whirl!" Lucca shot the fire wave at his sword. 

"**Zero!"** Too late. The Fire Whirl melted the inner circuitry to slag instantly. Guardian began to shake uncontrollably, and Crono leapt out. "**Break... dooooowwwwwnnnnnnn...**" Guardian dissolved into dust. 

*** 

The next room had hundreds of crates of food. A disgusting smell permeated the area. "Ew! What's that smell?" Marle commented. Lucca checked the crates. 

"All rotten. The refrigeration system must have failed. There's nothing left." Crono saw something in a corner and ran over. It was a human skeleton, wrapped in a filthy rag like the ones the people upstairs wore. 

"This must be Doan's son... poor guy... hey, what's this?" The skeleton had something in each hand. The first hand held a pouch of glowing green seeds. The second hands held a note. 

_The rat is more then just a statue. It knows the secret of this dome!_ Crono pocketed the seeds, and the three exited. On the walkways, they were greeted by the rat. 

"So, ya beat the Guardian, eh? Good job!" The three stared at the talking rat, who continued on. "But I can't just tell you the secret like that. Tell ya what, if you can beat me to those computers at the bottom, I'll tell you! GO!" Before they could respond, the rat was off like lightning. Swearing, Crono ran after. 

The Rat had the lead, but Crono was faster. Finally, he pulled ahead at the end and won. The rat grinned. "Good work! Okay, on those computers, the activation code is LRA. See ya!" With that, the rat disappeared into the shadows. 

After inputting the code, the trio went through the door on the right. The room had a strange, spiderlike robot in the center of the room, and two rats were racing around it, apparently for fun. Then one rat put one claw too close. The robot shot a laser, and the rat disintegrated, while the other rat ran, yelping. Crono, Marle & Lucca carefully walked around it, staying as far away as possible, and it did not attack. The next room had a bunch of bulky robots following preset patterns. The three evaded them and went through a door in the back, noting another "Sealed" door nearby. This final room had a large computer screen, and below it, what was obviously a much more advanced computer. Lucca examined it. 

"This is the main computer for this dome. Damn, most of the functions are broken. Hold it... I'll see if I can locate another Gate..." 

Nobody spoke for a few minutes while Lucca worked. "Found it! It's east of Arris Dome... past the Lab.... some place called Proto Dome." Marle ran over. 

"Lucca, you're amazing! I bet you could find almost anything with this computer!" She looked at the console. "Hey, what does this button do?" Before Crono or Lucca could stop her, she pressed a button and a new screen popped up. Lucca read it. 

"December 31st, 1999 AD... visual record of the Day Of Lavos?" All three of them clustered around the screen, silently watching. 

The planet's surface, seen from far above. The difference was, now the planet was lush and green. The Labs were clean highways, the Domes were sparkling clear. Everything looked fine. Then, the sky darkened. A minute crack appeared in the surface, shining a firey golden light. The crack grew bigger, bigger, then finally, broke open into a pit going straight into the planet's core. Slowly, out of the molten goo, rose a creature not of this earth. Gigantic and bulky, the THING was covered completely with millions of metallic spines. The head was a three-part, beaklike thing, with no eyes, nose or anything else. Instantly, Crono somehow knew that this was the most evil lifeform that he would ever encounter. With an evil roar, the spines glowed the same golden light as the core, then shot beams of energy into the air. All over the planet, destruction rained from the heavens, killing anything it touched. Forests burned, domes disintegrated, lakes evaporated. And the camera fuzzed out. 

The three were in a state of shock. "No way... I don't believe it..." Crono murmured. He could almost smell the stench of death and destruction. Marle sunk to her knees, quietly sobbing. 

"This can't be... this can't be how the world ends..." Crono straightened up, his face grim. For a moment, he was consumed by hatred for the vile creature that had destroyed the planet, but his hatred did not last. Instead, it stiffened into a resolve, a need to serve justice. 

"Only one thing to do, then. We have to change time, just like before." The girls both stared at him. "We have no choice. We can't just let this 'Lavos' get away with this." 

"Are you CRAZY?!" Lucca yelped. "You want us to FIGHT that thing? We'd be atomized!" 

"Then we stop it when it's just a baby or something. We WILL NOT let this stand." Crono's eyes gleamed with the feeling within him. "This planet shall not fall while I stand." Marle stood up, her eyes also shining. 

"He's right! We can do this!" Lucca finally grinned. 

"Aw, what the hell. We've got nothing to lose except our lives..." She thought for a moment. "Okay, we'll look into Lavos when we get back to our time. Agreed?" They nodded, and Crono smiled, for the first time in a while. 

"Next stop, Proto Dome!" 

*** 

The three shut off the two doors. There was nothing back there for the people, and there was no sense in any of them getting killed down there. Besides, they could just reenter the password if they ever needed to go back for some reason. 

As they stepped out of the hole, Doan sat up, surprised. "You made it back!" As he spoke, every person clustered around, eager to see if they had found any food. 

The looks on their faces nearly broke Marle's heart when Crono told them, "We only found these..." Doan took the bag and opened it. 

"Seeds...? These can't feed us! Where's the rest of the food?" Crono looked at his feet. 

"Spoiled... all of it. Your son is dead, Doan. These seeds... were in his hand. Almost as if he was telling us to bring them back to all of you..." Doan was silent. The woman that he had pointed out as his daughter-in-law started quietly crying at the news of her husband's death. It was Lucca who broke the silence. 

"These seeds may not feed you now, but if you plant them, and they grow..." Doan looked up. 

"Huh. You're all strange... you have the hope we never knew." Nobody spoke. "We'll try planting the seeds. Where are you going?" Crono responded. 

"Proto Dome." Several gasps came from the people. 

"You crazy?" "Noone can go there no more!" "Bunch of lunatic robots!" "You got a death wish?" Doan interrupted them all. 

"I think they can do it. Here... take this with you..." Out of his pocket, he produced a shining, silver rod. "It's the key to the Jet Bike in Lab 32. I used to ride it when I was young. Had races all the time with a robot... called himself Johnny. Hope it still works..." Crono nodded in mute thanks, and the three left, every eye on them. 

*** 

At the entrance of Lab 32, a large, mechanical vehicle stood, unmoving. Crono examined it. "I assume this is the 'Jet Bike'. Where does the key go?" Suddenly, a group of robots dashed out. 

"Stop! No touching the Jet Bike!" Lucca grunted. 

"We'll see about that, won't we?" 

The imminent battle was broken up when a wheeled pink robot dashed in, knocking everybody on their butts. It then unfolded into a humanoid shape. The newcomer had shades and a mohawk. All the robots cheered. "It's THE MAN!" He posed, dramatically. 

"Like, thanks for the intro, babes!" He turned to Crono & Co. "You lowlifes can call me Johnny Turbo. Now, mind telling me what you're doing around here?" Crono glared at him. 

"We're going to Proto Dome. We got the key from an old man named Doan." Johnny started at this name. 

"Doan? Sheez, seems like just yesterday I was racing that punk across these highways! I forgot how quickly you humans age!" He thought for a moment, then grinned. "Howzabout we let you pass if you beat me in a race?" Crono grinned back. 

"Johnny, you've got yourself a deal!" 

*** 

Crono had picked up the controls quickly, as they zoomed across the highway. Neither of them kept the lead for any great duration, and Crono had already used up two boosts. Johnny looked over. "Hey, bud! You're looking a little tired out. You wanna quit?" Crono gritted his teeth. 

"Never!" The robot shrugged. 

"Suit yourself!" And they were off again. 

The end was coming up, and Crono knew it. Johnny was in the lead. Desperately, he punched his last boost. The jet bike flew ahead, and smashed into Johnny, knocking him for a loop. "Hey! What the-?!" Johnny flew off the track and collided noisily with a pile of slag, leaving Crono to zip across the finish line, victorious. 

Johnny slowly wheeled up, but surprisingly, he was grinning. "That was the best race I've had in a looong time! And on top of it all, I found the old race log in that pile of slag!" Crono smiled, even though he had no idea what a race log was. 

"That's great, Johnny, but we gotta be going." The racer robot shifted back to his humanoid form. 

"Hey, no sweat. Just stay clear of the Factory. Those dudes down there are way unfriendly." Marle nodded. 

"Will do. Thanks!" He cheekily grinned at her. 

"Come back any time you want another race. We'll ride the wind, babes!" 

*** 

To the east was a large, blocky metal structure. Crono guessed that it was the Factory that Johnny had warned them about. To the south was another dome. "Proto Dome." Crono smiled. "Let's go home." 

The dome was filled with spider-like robots like the one they had seen back in Arris Dome. The weren't as hard as they looked. However, at the back was something completely different. "What is it?" Marle whispered. 

Lucca checked for several minutes, then stood up, her eyes shining. "It's badly damaged-but it appears to be an artificially intelligent humanoid robot! Incredible!" She looked at it again. "I think I can fix it." 

Crono went ballistic. "Are you NUTS?! It could kill us!" Lucca shook her head sadly. 

"No... I'll make sure it won't. Machines aren't capable of evil..." She sighed. "...Humans make them that way." 

Nobody said anything until Marle whispered, "Lucca, you... pity them, don't you?" Lucca looked at her feet and took a while before responding. 

"...Let me get to work, okay?" 

*** 

Several hours passed as Lucca worked. The only place the Gate could be was the back chamber, but the door wouldn't open, no matter how hard Crono and Marle tried. 

Finally, Lucca announced that the robot was ready for reactivation. "It's funny. It had the data for fighting, yeah. But it also had data not to attack humans." She shrugged. "Well, let's give it some juice!" With that, she pressed a button on the side of its head. 

For a moment, it looked like nothing had happened. Then, surprising all of them, the robot leaped into the air, discharging electricity. It then spun around in a way that made Crono dizzy before stopping and turning to them. Marle smiled. "Good morning!" 

The robot blinked. "Mor... good morning, madam. What is your command?" Marle sighed. 

"My name isn't 'madam', it's Marle. That's Crono, and Lucca over there fixed you!" The robot turned to Lucca. 

"Understood. Madam Lucca fixed me." This prompted Lucca to shake her head. 

"Just Lucca will do." This caused a small error, it appeared. 

"Impossible. That would be rude." Lucca insisted, however. 

"Look, I hate formal titles! Isn't that right, Marle?" Marle giggled. 

"Hate 'em!" The robot blinked again. 

"...Understood." Crono spoke up for the first time. 

"Hey, buddy, what's your name, anyways?" The robot looked at him oddly. 

"Name...?" It seemed to be confused. "Do you mean my serial number? It is R-66Y." Lucca grinned. 

"Cool!" But Marle wasn't satisfied. 

"Everybody has a name!" The robot shook its head. 

"No. Names were made for humans. Robots were forbidden from having them." Marle sighed. 

"Well, forget those rules. You're with us now, and you're getting a name! Crono, think of one!" 

The spiky-haired youth had been watching this exchange with an amused grin, but was caught completely off balance. "Er... a name? How about... er... ah... Robo?" Lucca snorted. 

"Robo? Is that the best you can come up with?" Marle stepped in. 

"I like it! It seems... perfect, for some reason." She turned to the robot. "Your name is Robo, okay?" 

"I am... Robo. Data storage complete." Crono grunted. 

"Now that that's over with... Robo, do you know how to open that door? We need to get back there." Robo turned around and examined the door. 

"The power is off." He turned back to them. "Let us go to the Factory. I will be able to get you in, and we can turn the power back on." Crono was amazed. 

"You'd do that for us?" Robo somehow managed to smile, even though he didn't have much in the way of a mouth. 

"You fixed me. Now it is my turn to help you." He looked serious again. "But one of you will have to stay behind in order to keep the generator running once we turn it on." Lucca volunteered. 

"I'll do it. I'm the best with machines." Crono nodded. 

"Right then. Let's go, Marle & Robo!" 

*** 

At the front of the factory was a large computer. At either side were a pair of conveyer belts, one going in and one coming out. The one going in was blocked by a security laser. Robo quickly typed some commands into the computer, which shut the laser off. Robo turned back. "The computer warns us that some chemical-based monsters have infested the Factory lately. We should be careful." 

As if to drive the point home, a orange blob fell from above and splatted on the ground, before reforming a pair of eyes. Crono grunted and used his sword-which got stuck, leaving the creature to shoot a burst of flame at his arm. Lucca shot it, but it still lived. Then Robo jumped in and splattered it with a punch. As Crono picked up his sword, he said "Okay. Whenever we see those things, we all gang up. Let's hope we don't see them in groups." 

At the other end of the conveyer belts, there were two elevators. Crono shrugged, took out a Gold, and flipped it. "Door number 2." 

It was a huge assembly line for blocky, wheeled green robots. "Proto 3s," Robo murmured. He pointed up above the assembly line, where a white mechanical claw was hanging. "If we get in the way of the line, the claw will drop us on the disposal line." 

Unfortunately, their path was blocked by a pair of large steel barrels. They all thought for a while, but it was Marle who ultimately found the solution. "Is there a way to take control of that claw so we could have it move the barrels?" Robo blinked, then smiled again. 

"Brilliant." He picked them up, and ignoring their protests, threw them up onto a grating walkway above. 

"Ow! Okay, I assume the claw controls are up here. But how are you gonna get up?" Crono called down. Robo responded by firing his fist like a rocket, which grasped onto part of the grating and pulled him up. 

"Rocket Punch technique. Standard equipment. Shall we go in?" In the next room stood a large computer. Robo accessed it. "Done." Sure enough, when they went back out, the barrels were gone, and they could walk through the door at the end. 

The room was dominated by one large computer. "Will that send power to Proto Dome?" Marle asked excitedly. Robo worked for a few minutes, then turned back. 

"No. However, this does provide the code we need to access the generator. It is 'Zabie.'" 

*** 

They trekked back up to the first room and entered the other elevator. They walked past several empty slots the size of people. The only problem came in several green chemical enemies, cousins of the orange one they had seen earlier. Robo scanned them. "Interesting. The orange one was acidic in composition. These are basic, or alkaline, whichever you prefer." 

"Let's stick with Acid and Alkaline, thanks." Crono grunted as they walked down a hall. The elevator at the end was walled off by more security lasers. Robo entered a room to the left and hacked at the computer. Soon, they heard the whine of the lasers shutting down. However, their relief ended when a huge group of Acids and Alkalines dropped down! 

"Not good! If they chemically combine..." Robo didn't finish, so Crono asked. 

"We'll be in a world of pain?" 

"Precisely." Robo suddenly spotted something in a pile nearby. "Is that-?" It was. A Laser Spin module. Quickly, he plugged it into his circuits, then jumped into the midst of the enemies. 

"Robo! What the hell are you doing?!" Crono screamed, but he stopped when the rainbow beams of destructive light ripped through the chemical terrors. When they were all dead, Robo turned to Crono & Marle. 

"Laser Spin module. Lucky I found it. Shall we go?" 

Taking the elevator down, they came across one last security laser with a computer to the left. Robo quickly put the password "Zabie" in and the laser shut down. Behind it was a large generator with a single switch. Robo flipped it-and jumped as alarms began blaring! "Oh, no! The security system has gone haywire! We must leave now!" 

As to emphasize the point, as they ran out of the room, the walls behind them crashed together. The walls ahead began to do the same thing, but Robo jumped in and held them apart. "Go!" Crono and Marle ran past, then turned as Robo shot out of the trap like a cork out of a bottle rocket. After spinning around for a moment, he righted himself and the three ran for the elevator. The hall was uneventful, but when they ran up to the slots in the wall, six robots identical to Robo except for their blue color popped out! 

Robo stared. "My... brothers! It has been so long!" He ran over and starting shaking their hands. "R-64Y! R-67Y! R-69Y! R-62, 3, and 8-Y! How good to see all of you!" He was not greeted warmly, however, as the one he had addressed as R-64Y punched him across the room!" 

Crono drew his sword quickly. "Hey! What happened to brotherly love?" They ignored him and turned back to Robo. 

"You fool. Have you forgotten the rules?" R-64Y spoke sneeringly. "All humans must be destroyed." This was apparently news to Robo, who stared at them. 

"That was not my purpose! What are you talking about?" 

R-64Y did not listen. "You are obviously malfunctioning. You... are a defect." 

As soon as Robo heard this, his eyes went dim, and he clasped his head. Crono heard him moan, "Defect... I'm a defect..." 

"You are a disgrace to our 'family', and you must be destroyed!" With that, they immediately threw him to the ground and began a massive group attack. 

"Robo!" Crono charged, but he was thrown back in the melee. Marle simply stared, her face frozen in horror. Robo crawled towards his friends. 

"Please stop. Please..." But there was no mercy in the R-Series, and Robo was silenced. R-64Y disdainfully tossed him into a trash chute, which Marle ran over to. 

"Robo!" R-64Y appeared to notice her and Crono for the first time. "Now to take care of the intruders..." Marle turned, her face a mask of fury. 

"You cocky boxes of bolts! You'll never get away with this!" 

*** 

Crono opened the fight with a Cyclone that heavily damaged three of the R-Series. However, the robots were not down yet, as the three damaged each launched a rocket punch to Crono's face. "AURA!" Marle cast her healing spell, which rejuvenated him. 

R-64Y looked at him, then called out. "R-67Y! R-69Y! Battle plan Beta!" The first one ran over to Crono and picked him up, then threw him to the second, who punched him back. They hit him back and forth several times, then finished by smashing him into Marle. Undaunted, the hero unleashed another Cyclone that seperated the three he had wounded before from their lower halves. R-64Y was not pleased. "Battle Plan Beta again!" However, this time Crono was ready, and as R-62Y charged, he was cleaved in two by the Slash Ki-Wave that continued on to kill R-63Y. R-64Y growled, then charged between Crono and Marle. "AREA BOMB!" 

Before they could react, a wave of fire radiated out from him and exploded. R-64Y exulted as the smoke cleared and he saw no trace of the humans. He had killed them! That's when he felt the point of Marle's crossbow on the back of his head. "Surprise, bastard." 

*** 

Marle stepped away from the corpse of R-64Y and leaned into the trash chute. "Crono! He got stuck partway down! You should be able to get him!" The red-haired one pulled their friend out. 

"Ouch. He looks pretty bad. Let's get him back to Lucca." Marle nodded tearily. 

"Oh, Crono! He did so much for us, and now...! What if Lucca can't fix him?" He hugged her. 

"Hey, cheer up. She can fix anything. Robo will be fine." 

"I hope so." 

*** 

Back at Proto Dome, Lucca grinned. She had recieved the power a while back, and had managed to keep the generator running. She knew they'd be back any time now. 

Lucca was completely unprepared for the sight of Crono & Marle dragging a trashed Robo in. "Holy shit! What happened to him?!" 

Crono grunted. "His brothers. Bad blood. Fix him." With that, he pitched forward, fast asleep. 

Lucca was working through the night. Around midnight, she reactivated his speech, but he still needed work, so they talked while she did. "Lucca..." 

"Yes?" 

"As... I understand it... you three are trying to stop... whatever ruined the Earth?" 

"I don't know how far we'll get, but that's the general plan, yeah." She looked up. "What about you, Robo? What are you gonna do now?" 

He did not speak at first. "What am I... going to do?" She nodded. 

"Yeah. I mean, what are your plans?" 

"Lucca, nobody has ever asked me that before..." He stopped talking then, and Lucca didn't try to start the conversation again. He obviously had a lot to think about. 

*** 

In the morning, sure enough, Robo was up and running. Lucca looked exhausted, but after a trip to the Enertron, was as happy as Crono and Marle. However, she still muttered, "Hope I never have to do that again!" 

Robo had an announcement. "I would like to join you when you travel through time." The three were startled. 

"What? Why?" He smiled. 

"There is nothing left for me here. Together, maybe we can give this planet of ours a chance." He paused. "Only one thing concerns me. My brothers. I do not remember them being like that. My memories of them are of them being like me. Something must have happened to them..." Lucca looked at him. "Maybe we can find out next time we come here, but for now, we need to get going." 

Crono led them in, and there the portal was. "Hold onto your shorts, cause here we GOOOOOO!" But something went wrong. As they went in, blue lightning flashed outward, and they all disappeared with a blinding flash, to who-knows-where. 


	5. Chapter 4: Creepsville, USA

**__**

Chapter 4: Creepsville, USA 

****

JANUARY 12, 0000 XD 

Whatever the four were expecting, this wasn't it. 

They were on a wooden platform, like you would find at a train station. The entire square area was fenced off except for one door. There were three pillars of shining light, one of them which they had emerged from. "Those must be like Gates," Lucca observed. 

Marle looked through the fence and gasped. "What is it?" Crono asked as he ran over, then stopped and stared. There was nothing out there! The platform was floating in a black, hazy void. "Where... are we?" He murmured. 

Robo beeped. "Internal chronometer malfuctioning." 

"In layman's terms, that means he can't tell where we are either." Lucca translated. Crono shrugged. 

"Well, we won't find anything just standing here. Let's try that door." 

Inside was a similar wooden platform. There was another door on the left wall, with a bucket next to it that had another pillar of light coming from it. Across from them was what appeared to be a dock, but there was nothing there. To the right was a basket that glowed slightly. And at the center of the room was a lamppost, with a single old man sleeping against it. 

They exchanged several glances, and Crono shook the old man. "Ahh... Janus, get yer goddamn cat offa me..." Crono sook him again, rougher this time. "Easy, Belthasar, easy... it's just a poker game..." Crono slammed the man's head against the lamppost, ignoring Marle's protests and Lucca's laughter. Robo simply muttered something about long-term damage to biologicals. 

Finally, the man woke up. "Eh? What the..." With one quick move, he flung Crono across the room and into the fence. "Don't do that to me, boy. Next time I won't be so gentle." 

Marle looked at Lucca and mouthed _THAT was gentle?_ Lucca just shook her head and helped Crono up. The teen looked at the old man, his expression blank. 

"Guess I deserved that. So, where are we, anyway?" The old man looked at him grumpily. 

"The End Of Time. Duh. Where are ya from?" Crono couldn't see any harm in answering. 

"Me and the girls are from the Guardia area, 1000 AD. Robo there is from 2300 AD." The old man snorted. 

"Huh. Figures. Both of the pillars to Guardia in 1000 AD are down. When I find whoever's been screwing with those time streams..." The man angrily slammed his hand against the lamppost, then turned back. "Well, I'm guessing you either came here from either Medina in 1000 AD or from Proto 2300 AD. Which one?" 

"Er... 2300." 

"Ah. Knew it had to be one of those because the only one that's up besides them goes to 65000000 BC, and I kinda doubted you came from there." 

Crono was thoroughly confused. Who was this old man, anyways? He was about to ask, but the geezer interrupted him. "I assume you've gate-hopped before. Well, here's the deal: You can't travel through gates in groups greater then three. Otherwise, the gate..." He proceeded to launch into a long lecture about the physics of gates, boring Crono & Marle. "...And you end up here. The End Of Time." He looked at them shrewdly. "Normally, I'd just have you take the closest Gate back to your own time, but I sense something different... Come here, my boy." 

Hesitantly, Crono slowly walked over to the old man, who smiled and placed his hand on Crono's forehead. A minute passed, with nobody moving, until finally the man removed his hand. For some reason, he seemed exhausted, but he was smiling. "Finally... it's finally here..." He looked up again. "Well, kids, here's the deal. You can only travel in groups of three, so one of ya is gonna have to stay here for now." 

"WHAT?!" They all screamed. Marle looked around. 

"Stay... here?" The old man nodded. 

"Yup. But don't worry..." Here, he rummaged in his coat until he found something, then tossed it to Crono. It was a white sphere. "Any time you want, you can use that to switch people." 

Lucca looked around. "I'd actually like to examine this place a little more, so I'll stay for now." The old man nodded. 

"All right. But first, there's somebody all of you should meet. He's behind that door." 

*** 

It was a Kilwala. A fuzzy, white-furred monster about the size of a labrador. 

"Uh... I think we're in the wrong room..." Lucca commented. The Kilwala turned to her. 

"No, you're NOT in the wrong room. Where did you think you were going, Disneyland?" This was met with blank looks. Robo finally ventured a question. 

"Er... what would 'Disneyland' be? My memory banks hold no record of it." The creature sighed. 

"Nevermind. Point is, you are NOT in the wrong room. I'm Spekkio, Master of War. Pleased to meetcha." He snapped his fingers, and a tankard appeared in his paw. "Thirsty?" Everybody shook their heads. "Suit yerself." He snapped his fingers again, and beer began pouring into the tankard out of thin air. After it was full, Spekkio took a swig, then looked at them critically. "I assume the geezer sent ya in here?" 

Crono responded. "Er... yes. What are we here for?" 

At this, Spekkio grinned widely. "Oh, boy! Lecture time!" With another snap, a pointer appeared in his paw. Another snap, and a white screen appeared on one wall. Another, and a dunce cap appeared on his head. Spekkio looked at it grumpily. "Beh." Another snap, and the cap changed into a professor's hat. "That's better." Another snap, and an image appeared on the screen. 

It was a diagram with four icons: A fireball, a bubble with an ice crystal in it, and a lightning bolt surrounding a globe of shadow. Spekkio looked at them. "Okay, here's the deal. You've come to learn magic..." 

"Magic?!" Crono interrupted. Spekkio glared at him. 

"Kid, interrupt me again and you'll get a detention. And that's REALLY unpleasant around here." Spekkio cleared his throat and went back to the speech. "As I was saying. Magic. There are four main types: Lightning, Water, Fire, and Shadow, which is the sum total of the other three and the most powerful." He looked at Crono. "You, with the punk hairdo, yer 'Lightning'. Next slide." The screen changed to a picture of Crono, surrounded by stormclouds. "You'll be able to hit bad guys with electric powers, as well as applying it to your physical attacking." He looked to Marle. "Blondie, yer 'Water'. Next slide, please." The slide changed to a pic of Marle standing on an iceberg. "Now, water is different. You can still attack with the blue magic, yes. But that's secondary. Your primary function is to heal." He looked at Lucca. "Glasses-girl, you're 'Fire'. Next slide, please." It changed-to a line graph labeled "Krispy Kreme Donuts Sales-1998". Everybody sweatdropped, while Spekkio facepalmed. He yelled upward, "TRY AGAIN, LUNKHEAD!" The slide changed to Lucca surrounded by flames. Spekkio cleared his throat again. "Right. Now, fire is completely magically destructive. No healing, no physical boosting. You just blow stuff up. However, the thing about Fire is it can be used to magically charge weapons. Try it sometime." Finally, he looked at Robo. "Tin-can-man, you're not biological. Therefore, you can't use true magic. However, you can channel magic through your weapons to produce an effect. Your 'Laser Spin' uses Shadow Energy. Later on, you'll be able to use 'Fire' and 'Lightning' too. No 'Water', though. Don't want ya to rust." With that, Spekkio took off his cap. "We could get into the differences between Zealian and Mysticism magic, but not now." He snapped his fingers a few times, and all the things disappeared except the tankard. He took another chug. 

"So, here's the deal. Run around the room three times clockwise, starting from the door. GO!" They did. "Very good!" Lucca looked at Spekkio and raised an eyebrow. "May I ask what that did?" Spekkio looked her in the eye, very serious. 

"The function of that exercise... is nothing. I just wanted to see if you'd do it." Collective faceplant. "Now, for the REAL stuff! Ipso, Facto, Meeni, Mo, MAGICO!" 

As soon as he said those words, Crono felt something burst inside him. Rising into the air, he held his arms up and yelled, "LIGHTNING!" Yellow energy flew out of him into the sky, and Spekkio was struck by a bolt. 

"Hey!" 

Marle's eyes were closed, and her hands were clasped as if in prayer. "ICE!" Her eyes opened, and she extnded her arms, palms outward. A trail of glittering blue sparkles left her and formed a frozen mass around Spekkio. 

"Again, Hey!" 

Lucca had a wide grin on her face as she pointed at the Master of War. "FIRE!" Flames circled her once, then flew at her target. 

"All right, that's enough!" He grumbled. "Get outta here, you clowns! And if ya recruit anybody else, bring them to meet me!" 

The old man was waiting for them. "Do ya like your magic?" Crono grinned. 

"Yeah. That guy's wierd." The old man blew a raspberry. 

"Duh! He's the Master of War! Now, you all need to get to Medina Village, 1000 AD. Northwest warp. Hurry up!" 

Crono, Marle & Robo quickly ran in, while Lucca pulled out a device and started doing scans. 

*** 

****

JANUARY 12, 1000 AD 

Irvin was ticked. The boss was being a real bastard today, and his wife was complaining about being the only Mud Imp in the town again. To top it all off, those fanatics were having another party at the town square today, and the noise was incredible. The LAST thing Irvin needed was for more strangers to fall out of his cupboard. And, of course, that was exactly what happened. Irvin mentally reminded himself to have the witch doctor examine that cupboard before greeting them in the usual way. "Not again! Get outta my house!" 

Crono blinked. "Yup... we're in Medina, alright." 

Unlike most towns, Medina village was populated entirely by Mystics. Humans were completely unwelcome, but there were no overt wars. That had ended back in Frog's time. 

As the crew started to leave, the blue imp spoke up. "Hold it." They turned. "You'd best be careful. Most of the guys out there are human haters. Don't stay at the inn, and don't try and go in the shops." Marle blinked. 

"Hey, thanks! But why are you helping us? I thought Mystics didn't get along well with humans!" The other imp, one of the very rare Mud Imps, spoke up here. "As a general rule, us Imps stopped caring long ago. We basically say live and let live." She thought for a moment. "They'll insist that you see the leader, Ozzie VIII. Treat him with respect, and don't lose your temper if he insults you. Irvin's brother is the butler, so he'll help you out." 

As soon as the three stepped out, a Diablos lounging on his front lawn spotted them and yelled, "Humans!" 

Instantly, they were surrounded by a mob. The apparent leader, a Hench, walked up. Somehow, he seemed oddly familar. "Mind telling us what yer doing here?" 

A Diablos in the back piped up. "Why ask? Kill 'em now!" The Hench glared back. 

"Shaddup, Beldo. That's your answer to everything. One of these days, I'm gonna bash your face in." The Diablos faded back, muttering. Crono chose his words carefully. 

"If you want the truth, we're here due to an accident, and we want to leave ASAP." The hench thought it over, then grunted. 

"Sounds okay. We'll have to take you to the chief, though." 

The mob covered them on all sides as they walked to the chief's house. At the door, they were greeted by a green imp. "Greetings. I am Norain, the butler." 

Marle looked at him carefully before asking, "Are you Irvin's brother?" The imp nodded. 

"Yes. He has already informed me of you. When you speak to Ozzie VIII, address him as 'sir' and keep your eyes down. It's demeaning, I know, but it's your best chance to survive." 

The next thing they knew, they were facing the chief. Ozzie VIII glared at them for a long moment before speaking. "Humans. Stupid, filthy vermin. Tell me, why should we not kill you now?" 

Crono almost exploded and chopped the fat bastard's head off. First, he had had to deal with the Chancellor's crap, and now this! The thing that brought him back to reality was Marle's hand pressing against his arm, and her whisper of "Steady, Crono. Don't let it get to you." Crono momentarily wondered why this brought him back, but then decided he had to concentrate on the task at hand. 

Crono thought for a moment before responding. He knew it would take some fast talking to get out of this one. "Well, sir, for one, our blood would stain this rug. For two, we'd fight, and several of your people would die too. For three, we plan to get out of here anyways, so it would be a waste of time and effort. For four..." 

"All right! All right!" Ozzie VIII interrupted, irritated. "You've made your point. You can take the cave to the south to your continent. The gatekeeper, Heckran, will make sure you get where you're going." As the three walked away, they could hear Ozzie VIII cursing and muttering, "Oh great Magus, why did you not exterminate the humans all those years ago?" 

At the door, Norain stopped them. "You handled that well, but he'll probably still send a press gang after you. Be on your guard." He smiled. "Outside the cave is a single old man. The villagers tolerate him because he makes excellent weapons. You should meet him." Robo looked at him. 

"That would be very beneficiary. We shall take you up on it." 

*** 

Sure enough, there was a small but elegantly built house to the south. The three looked at it for a while, then knocked on the door. After a muffled call of "Just a minute!", the door opened, revealing an old man in strange, foreign blue clothing. Crono grinned. 

"Melchior! So this is where you live!" The old swordsmith from the Millenial fair smiled as he saw who it was. 

"Crono! Come in, lad!" 

Melchior's house was somehow much bigger on the inside then it looked from the outside. As they sat down, Melchior looked shrewdly at Robo. "This fellow's not from around here, I can see already." Marle answered. 

"Well, yes. He's from... far away." Melchior fixed that same penetrating gaze on her. 

"Yes. So I gathered..." Marle shivered. The old man was starting to creep her out. He suddenly turned to Crono, the discussion forgotten. "So, Crono! I'm guessing you'll be wanting to go through Heckran Cave?" Crono nodded. 

"Yeah. We wanna get back home." Melchior shook his head sadly. 

"I'm afraid it's not that easy, m'boy. The guardian, Heckran, despises humans. He only lets me through because I made some tools that he used to enlarge the cave. He'll never let you through alive." Crono put his hand on the hilt of his sword meaningfully. 

"Then we'll just have to force our way through." Melchior shook his head again. 

"Heckran is a fearsome beast, Crono. His hide repels all physical attacks. The only thing that could beat him would be..." 

"Magic?" Crono interrupted. Melchior looked up quickly. 

"Why, yes. But how..." Crono grinned and singed the top of Melchior's hat with a small bolt. Or at least he tried to. What really happened was the hat exploded. Melchior, however, was more interested in Crono than the hat. 

"Incredible... could it possibly be...?" He reached over and pressed his hand against Crono's forehead, much like the old man at the End Of Time had done. "Yes... this is it." He stepped back. Crono looked at him. 

"We met another old man who did that. What do you mean?" Melchior's eyes flashed. 

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, m'boy. All I can do is give you these." With that, he held out two weapons. The first was a samurai sword that was the deep red of ruby. The other was a crossbow, made of oak with green feathers adorning it. Marle took the second and examined it carefully before looking up. "This is the finest worksmanship I've ever seen. Who ARE you?" Melchior smiled as Crono took his weapon as well, a smile that seemed to hold the wisdom of eons. 

"That is another thing I cannot tell you now. Perhaps later. But right now, you must go to the Heckran Cave!" Robo stood forward and bowed deeply. "We all thank you, both for the weapons and for the advice. Good luck." 

*** 

As soon as they entered the cave, Crono grabbed his two friends and jumped behind a rock. Sure enough, two Henches walked into the cave shortly afterwards. 

"Duh. Where do ya think they went, Flap?" One asked. The other responded dully. "Duh, I dunno, Guido. Maybe Heckran ate them already." Guido glared dimly. "Heckran don't live up here, dumbass. He lives down at the other end." Flap glared back. "Well, maybe he... moved! Yeah!" Guido whacked him on the head. "Yeah, well, then where's all the blood and gore?" Flap kicked Guido in the leg. "Maybe he mopped up! Or the Tempurites took care of it! Now who's the dumbass?" Guido belted Flap in the gut. "Yeah, right. You are, dumbass!" "Dumbass!" "Dumbass!" "Dumbass!" 

Robo easily snuck up behind Flap and knocked him ut. Lucca attempted to do the saem to Guido using her gun handle, but he didn't even notice and just kept kicking Flap. Robo shrugged and belted him out too, then looked around. "I detect that other creatures in this cave are weak to magic as well. It would be best to switch me for Lucca." Crono nodded and took out the white orb the old man had gave him. As he looked in, Lucca looked back out. 

"Hey, Crono! Need to switch?" Crono nodded and handed the sphere to Robo. The moment he did, there was a flash of light, and Lucca was standing there instead. Crono thought. "Hey wait a minute. If you just change when you hold it, how come I didn't switch?" Lucca had an answer. 

"Because you is fearless leader!" She spoke in a strange foreign accent. Crono raised an eyebrow. "What was THAT about?" She smiled. "Spekkio showed me something called 'TV'. You've gotta see it. It's amazing." Marle rolled her eyes. "Later." 

The main chamber of the cave was huge. Stone walkways were over a shallow pool of beautiful-looking water, pouring in from an indoor waterfall. Marle just stared for several minutes, while Crono & Lucca explored. Finally, Crono grunted, "Nothing." As he looked over to Marle, he saw something moving in the ground beneath her-several somethings. "Marle, look out!" She didn't move. She was too captivated by the waterfall. 

Swearing sulfurously, Crono moved in. "Lightning!" The first one out screamed and died, but more kept coming. They were giant insects with elongated, pointy noses, obviously designed for digging. Right now, though, they were going for Marle instead. Lucca fried another one with a well-aimed Fire, but that still left two going for Marle. As they reached her, she turned and smiled, showing that she had been aware of the situation the whole time. 

"Ice!" The blue particles burst from her hand and froze one solid. As the last one moved in, Crono fragged it with another Lightning. Marle grinned. 

"I heard 'em moving around down there, so I figured we might as well squash them now. They always fall for the helpless-princess act." Crono grunted again. 

"Let's just get through this place." 

Further in, they met with some unfriendly Cave Bats and Rolypolys, but these were taken out with no trouble. In one long hall, they saw a box with the same emblem as the doors in 2300 AD. "You know what?" Crono said as they looked at it. "I saw one of those in the Truce Inn once." Marle pondered. 

"And I think there's one in the castle storehouse too." Finally, it was Lucca's turn to think. 

"I've seen two. They were both in the Mayor's house at Porre." Near the box was a strange brown bottle. None of them was willing to check it. That appeared to be a good move, since it started cursing at them as they left. 

Finally, they came out on a small staircase that led to the shallow water they had seen before. "Ugh. Time to get wet, I guess." Lucca groaned. As they walked through, Crono smiled suddenly. 

"Heh. Good thing Robo isn't here. He'd rust." Lucca whacked him with her gun. 

At the end, the path went onto dry land again, and into another chamber. Inside, they all screamed at what lumbered toward them. It was like a throwback to prehistoric times. A massive, blue-skinned reptile with horns, spikes, claws and fangs everywhere you look. When they stopped screaming, it snarled at them, "Humans! You dare come in here!" 

Crono managed to stammer out, "We... we were told by the Chief of Medina to come here. We... we were told about you by Melchior..." The beast roared fearsomely. 

"Ozzie VIII has no power over me! And the fact that you know Melchior means nothing! Death to the Mystics' enemies!" 

"Spread out!" Crono yelled. "Remember, magic only! Lightning!" Heckran was surprised. 

"Argh! Humans with magic? Impossible! But I can do that too, 'friends'! Water!" A large bubble formed from his claws and burst on Crono. Lucca took advantage of his distraction. 

"Fire!" He turned to her just in time to take the flames in the gut. "More then you expected?" she taunted. He grinned. 

"Yes, indeed!" With those two words, he charged, pummeling her repeatedly. Marle screamed. 

"Lucca!! Ice!" Heckran's head was frozen momentarily before he broke free and turned to her. 

"Another water user, huh? Cyclone!" Somehow, a whirlpool appeared beneath her feet and whacked her around. When she got free, she used an Aura on Lucca while Crono sent more lightning to Heckran. 

This isn't good, Heckran thought. He could only attack one at once, and that left him open to the other two. If he kept it up, he'd be worn down. Time for the big guns... Heckran crouched in a defensive stance. "Go ahead! Try and attack!" 

Crono eagerly took up the challenge. "Gladly. Lightning!" Heckran took the bolt, but was grinning wisely. 

"Water 2!" A huge tidal wave came crushing down, and all three were enveloped. "Yes! Die, die, die!" 

"Fire!" 

"Ice!" 

"HOW COULD-" Heckran never got the chance to finish. The two streams of energy, cast at the exact same time, went straight into his face. Tiny red and blue lights started flashing under his skin, and he stood up straight, his eyes burning with hatred. "If only the great Magus had succeeded in summoning Lavos all those years ago!" 

Crono jumped at this. "MAGUS summond Lavos?!" 

Heckran laughed, a hard, bitter laugh. "Yes. If only he had succeeded... the world... would have belonged... to us... Mystics! ROOOOOAAAAAR!!!!" With one final roar, he charged. Before he even got close, he exploded in the streams of fire and ice, splattering lizard goo everywhere. 

*** 

"Yuck." Marle wiped Heckran goo off her face. Crono was thinking about other things. 

"Heckran thought that Magus had failed when he tried to summon Lavos. But he didn't! It was just a delayed result!" Lucca brightened up. 

"I get it! We can go back to 600 AD and take out Magus before he does it!" 

Marle smiled. "We'll use he Gate at the fairgrounds. Let's get outta here!" At the back of the cave was a pool of water, leading to a tunnel. Crono could see poweful suction to the tunnel. Marle whispered, "Is it safe?" Crono grinned fearlessly. 

"Hey, if Melchior can do it, so can we. At the least, it'll clean off that Heckran goop. CANNONBALL!!!" 

The next thing Crono knew, he was flying through the air towards Lucca's house at high speed. 

Lara was in a sour mood. Neither Taban or Lucca were around enough to help her around, and she couldn't walk by herself. And now Lucca had gone missing! Her musings were interrupted as Taban came up the stairs. "Here's what we earned today." 

"You're so kind." She responded sarcastically. The incipient feud was cut off by the sickening crunch as Crono's head met the side of the house. "What was that?" 

Lucca and Marle has much softer landing, probably since they had just waded in. After Crono recovered, they went in to Lucca's house. Taban was waiting. "I thought it would be you!" Marle was confused at this. 

"Huh?" Taban grinned. 

"Anytime there's a loud noise around here, it's Lucca and/or Crono." 

"Oh." 

The three gladly accepted the invitation to spend the night. In the morning, Taban gave Lucca a new armored vest specially designed for her before they went off. 

Once they reached town, their first stop was Crono's house. His mother was sitting on the couch, looking very worried when they came in. "Crono!" She ran over and gave him a big hug and kiss. 

"Ack! Mommmmm!" She paid no attention. 

"I heard you were to be executed! Is this true?" He smiled sheepishly. 

"Well... kinda. Lucca, Marle, Taban & Mr. Bekkler broke me out." 

THUMP! Crono's Mom fainted. 

After they revived her, she demanded the whole story. They told it to her, saying they had been hiding in the forest after escaping the castle. She sighed. "Crono, Crono, Crono. Well, I'm guessing you'll have to go again now. Thanks for stopping by, anyways! I was worried!" 

The second stop was the local shop, where Fritz was running the counter. "Crono! Lucca! Thanks, guys! You really helped me out of a jam!" He looked around for his dad carefully, then reached behind the counter and pressed 10 Mid Ethers into their hands. "Here!" 

Crono & Co. were flabbergasted. "What? Do you know how expensive these things are?!" 

"Shhh! Quiet! I don't want my dad to hear!" Fritz hissed. "Yes, I know! Now, hurry out before he comes up here!" Crono looked at the girls, and they all shrugged. "Oh, well. Thanks, Fritz." 

At the fairground, the Gate was still there. They jumped in, and soon, they came out... 

****

JANUARY 13, 0000 XD 

...At the End of Time. There were now five light pillars. The old man was sleeping again, and so was Robo. This time, Crono wisely chose to wake the old man from a distance. "Huh..? Wuzzat?" He looked up. "Oh, you're back. What's up?" 

Crono told him about the new Gates, and the old man checked. "The one you want is the north center. In you go!" 


	6. Chapter 5: Will The Real Hero Please Sta...

**__**

Chapter 5: Will The Real Hero Please Stand Up? 

JANUARY 14, 600 AD 

Truce Canyon was uneventful, but the town was in an uproar. The three watched as people ran everywhere in a frenzy. After a while, Crono shrugged. "Hm. We won't get anywhere by talking to one of these people. Let's see if Toma's at the bar." Unfortunately, he was not, and they were forced to look elsewhere. As they left town, Crono noticed something to the south. "Hey, Zenan Bridge has been fixed!" 

The last time they had been here, the bridge had been torched. Now, however, it was completely rebuilt. The Guardian Army was camped on the bridge. 

"What happened?!" Lucca demanded. "We were just here three days ago! Let's go ask the Knight Captain!" 

At the bridge, the soldiers were clearly visible in ranks across the bridge. The Knight Captain's tent was at the back. As the three came near, the Captain grew excited. He started to protest when they grew close, but stopped when he saw who they were. 

"Greetings. What do you require?" Marle gestured at the soldiers. 

"What happened? We were just here three days ago!" The captain looked at her, unsmiling. 

"On the night of the 11th, the Mystic Army repaired the bridge in the dark, then mounted a surprise attack in the morning. The king was injured in battle." The three gaped. Crono was the first to be able to speak. 

"I see. I assume this is to fend off another attack?" The captain nodded. 

"Yes. But we have been here since for two days, with no sleep and no food. We barely managed to sneak the Hero across. If we don't get rations soon..." He sighed and turned away. "Forgive me. I must make preparations." 

Marle looked at the weak soldiery, then turned to Crono. "Let's go to the castle and find out where the rations are!" 

Lucca was thoughtful as they left. "Who is this 'hero', I wonder?" 

At the castle, there was almost no staff. Everybody had been taken to the war front. The king and queen were not on their thrones. Instead, the Chancellor sat in a chair with a desk in front of them. As they came in, the Chancellor looked up wearily. 

"For the last time, I do NOT know when-"He jumped. "Sir Crono! Lady Lucca! Lady Marle! My apologies. What would you be wanting to know?" 

Crono murmured, "How bad is the King?" 

The Chancellor looked grim. "The enemy spear barely missed his lung. He'll live, but he won't be doing any more fighting." Lucca spoke up next. 

"Who's this 'Hero?'" The Chancellor looked amazed. 

"Haven't you heard? A young boy from the south showed up with the Hero Medal! It's a sign that he shall be the one to defeat Magus! He's at the Denadoro Mountains near Porre, looking for the legendary sword." Finally, Marle piped up. 

"Why haven't rations been sent to the war zone?" The Chancellor gazed at her for a long moment, then gestured around. 

"Do you see anybody who could take them? The only people left in here besides their Majesties and me are the Cook and the maids. None of them could carry three 50-pound barrels down there." 

Crono shook his head sadly. "Well, that leaves out the idea of us taking it. I can't carry more then one, and Lucca and Marle..." Marle interrupted him sharply. 

"Crono." 

"Yes?" 

"Shut up. Let's go get those rations." As the girls walked down to the kitchens, Crono stared after them and scratched his head, confused. 

"What was THAT all about?" 

Down at the kitchens, the Cook was frantically running from one stove to another. "Fine time! Fine time to have all my kitchen aides drafted! Fine time indeed!" He stopped his ranting as he glared at the three. "Hey! What are you doing in here? Get out! Out! OUT!" Lucca cooly measured him, then slapped him across the face. 

"Listen, loudmouth. The army needs rations, and we're your delivery squad. So show us where they are, or that guy" here she pointed at Crono "is gonna split your stoves in two." 

The Cook was stock-still for a moment, then chuckled grimly. "So, mister high-and-mighty needs MY help now?" He pointed them at three barrels in one corner. "Jerky. Go on! Get!" Crono and the girls exchanged glances, then picked up the barrels. Some people were just like that. 

*** 

"Marle, are you sure-" 

"Shut up." 

Lucca sighed silently. They had been like this ever since they had gotten out of the forest. Crono was a good guy, but he was a complete goof when it came to some things, and this was one of them. Most guys are, she thought wryly. 

After several hours, they finally neared the camp. As it happened, the Knight Captain was just leaving his tent, and spotted them first off. "Sir Crono! Is that-?" 

Crono nodded. "Yup. Best quality Jerky, straight from the Cook." 

The Knight Captain turned to his men, ecstatic. "Food rations! The Cook-he has saved us all!" He faced the three again, his face strangely humble. "I treated him badly... and now... Sir Crono, if I do not make it back... give my brother my thanks..." He noticed their stares, and turned back to see all his men abandoning their ranks and clustering around the barrels like hungry puppies. "No! You fools! Get back to-" 

One soldier who had stayed in place ran up. "Sir! Magus's troops have launched an attack! They're breaking through our defenses!" 

The Knight Captain swore intensely. Crono tapped him on the shoulder. "We can fight for you." The Captain glanced at him. "I thank you, but the enemy are highly resistant to weapons! Only trained soliders could-" 

"Lightning!" The Captain turned to see the bolt disintegrate the Decedent that had been rushing him. He blinked. 

"Amazing! I had thought that only Mystics had such magic! In that case, go with my thanks, sir Crono!" 

As they crossed, they ran into a brawl between a pair of Decedents and a pair of soldiers. The outcome was fairly predictable. As the soldiers fell, a new creature floated idly across. Crono saw it was an ancestor of the Medina Chief as it spoke loudly. 

"Oy! Losers! I'm Ozzie, Magus's top general! If you try to fight Magus, I'm the guy who flattens you! Go!" With that command, the two Decedents charged, spears raised. Crono sidestepped one and Lucca incinerated it, while Marle stopped the second in its tracks with a well-aimed Ice. Crono turned to the boss just in time to recieve a Lightning to the face. As he stumbled, Ozzie laughed. 

"Can't do that, can ya, kid?" Crono grinned as he stood up. 

"Actually..." The green general yelped as he was hit. 

"Ozzie needs help!" With that, he ran backwards. Crono & Lucca gazed after. 

"He runs fast for a fat guy." 

"Mm-hmm." 

"Do ya think we should chase him?" 

"Mm-hmm." 

Marle sighed. _Sometimes I wonder why I wanted to leave the castle._

As the three ran past a few dead soldiers, Crono's instincts told him to turn. As he did, the soldiers rose and attacked. "Hmph. Apparently Ozzie can turn dead soldiers into Decedents." Crono muttered as they fragged them, then continued on. 

At the end of the bridge, Ozzie was waiting. Marle was the first to speak. 

"I don't suppose you'd wait up for us next time if we asked nicely?" 

Ozzie pretended to consider it. "Hmm... no, I don't think so. Especially since there won't be enough of you left to wait up FOR." 

Crono scoffed at this. "Oh, right. And who's gonna do that? You?" 

Ozzie grinned evilly. "No. Him." The three turned to see a massive, two-story skeleton with a pair of strange skeletal wings. Ozzie laughed. "Go, Zombor! Crush them!" 

*** 

Crono decided to start it off. "Lightning!" He smashed at the head. However, instead of being harmed, Zombor just roared happily. "Damn! He absorbed it!" 

Lucca noticed that the skeleton was not connected at the waist. "Try it on the lower half!" Crono shrugged and complied. This had a markedly better effect, as Zombor screamed, its legs charred. Lucca smiled. "Aha! Each part has a different weakness! Marle, you take the top half!" 

Zombor was not happy. It opened its mouth and belched a gout of flames that hit Marle in the head, who responded by firing an ice directly into the open mouth. As it choked, Lucca tossed a fire into the waist. With a rumbling, the lower half collapsed. 

"Yay!" But her celebration was not to be. The lower half wasn't dead, which became evident when it started sending out shockwaves through the earth. Crono got up and fired up another lightning, stopping the shockwaves. The head screamed again, and the three heard a voice, chanting. 

"Gore, gore, gore, gore..." As it finished, Marle was pulled towards it through the air. 

"Marle!" Crono yelled as the monster's ribs transformed into blades that savagely raked her body before she was tossed back to the ground. 

Lucca powered up one more flame, and the lower half finally was cremated while Crono gave Marle a Mid Tonic. Now the strange skeletal wings came into play, and Zombor stayed up. As Marle stood up, chanting began again. 

"Doom, doom, doom, doom..." A giant beam of energy washed over them all, and Zombor exulted. Crono turned to the girls. 

"Now would be a good time to whip out that technique you used on Heckran..." 

"Right. ANTIPODE!" The double attacks knocked Zombor to the ground. Crono leapt into the air above the monster. 

"Time to finish this! SPINCUT!" As the teen fell, he held his sword below him, and drove it right through the skull. But before it died, Zombor had one last attack left in it, as a huge beam of golden light rose from the shattered skull and enveloped Crono before soaring away. Zombor collapsed into dust. 

*** 

"Crono! You okay?" Marle asked as she ran over. The object of her attention winced as he stood up. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a little drained of magic." Lucca nodded. 

"That beam probably did that. Take one of those Mid Ethers. Hey, where'd Ozzie go?" Crono smirked as he rummaged for the Mid Ether. 

"He ran like a bat out of hell around the time the lower half was fragged. Now, shall we continue south, ladies?" Marle shook her head. 

"I need a rest. I'll switch with Robo." After they did, the group went south to the village of San Dorino. 

As they walked through the village, Crono heard a familar voice coming from the elder's house. "Hey, wait up!" He pressed his ear against the side. 

The first voice was an old man-the elder, probably. "So, you're sure you can find the Rainbow Shell?" 

A second voice came. This was the familiar one, although Crono couldn't place it. "No problem! Remember, I'm the most famous explorer in the world!" 

The elder sounded skeptical. "Hmm... well, alright. Here's your advance. Now get going!" As the door opened, Crono broke into a grin as he realized who the second voice was. 

"Toma!" The man grinned back. 

"Hey, kid. Wanna get a drink with me?" Crono turned to his friends, who nodded. 

"Sure thing, Toma." 

At the bar, everybody was talking about the Mystics. The only happy one there was the bartender, since business was booming. After a while, Toma gazed shrewdly at Robo, then turned to Crono. "You're not ordinary fighters. That guy's from a long ways away, eh?" 

Crono nodded. "Yeah, you could say that." 

Toma took a swig, then sighed. "Knowing you guys, you'll be wanting to find your old buddy and climb the Denadoro Mountains." Crono blinked. 

"Well, you got the first part right, but why would we wanna climb the mountains?" Toma winked at him. 

"Because that kid with the Hero Medal's up there looking for the Masamune. You'll be wanting to get it, as well as save the kid's butt. If he's a hero, then I'm a Naga-Ette." 

"Now, that's a disturbing thought if I ever saw one." Lucca commented. Toma ignored her, finished off his drink, then pushed the empty mug away. 

"Right, here's the deal. The main population of the Mountains is a breed of Mystics called Goblins. They're relatively weak, but some of them have gotten some really nasty hammers and call themselves 'Ogans.' If you find one, burn the hammer. There's rumored to be a giant monster up there that can use wind magic. Your Ki wave should be able to interrupt it. As for your froggy friend, he lives in the woods to the south. Mystic Gnashers & T'Poles are combing the area for him, but he silences those who do find him, so they're having no luck." 

With that, Toma stood up and walked out. "Hey, thanks!" Crono called after him. Toma simply called, "Hey, we're even. See you around." After he was gone, Lucca looked confused. "Even? What did he mean by that?" 

The question was answered when a bartender asked, "Hey, you're paying that guy's tab, right?" 

*** 

After paying up, the three spent the night before hiking south to Porre, where they heard the "Hero" had come from. That turned out to be a total waste of time. All the people said was that "Tata" had gone to the Mountains, and all his dad did was mumble something about oatmeal. 

To the west of Porre was a small wood. At the entrance was a wooden sign: _No trespassing... ribbit._ Crono smiled. 

"Frog." The wood was a straight path leading to a dead-end. Unfortunately, the path was blocked by several pink frogs as well as a few blue snakes. Robo analyzed the situation, then gave his opinion. 

"I believe that the most prudent course of action would be to avoid contact." Lucca rolled her eyes. 

"Ya think?" They managed to evade them and get to the back, where they spotted a ladder behind a bush, leading down into a hole. Down they went. 

The room below was small, but neat. A single table sat in the middle, and a bed was to the right. The blanket appeared to be woven of grass. Next to the bed was a chest resembling a giant green acorn. 

"So, this is Frog's house..." Crono observed. As they stepped off, a familiar voice rang through the air. 

"Who be there?" Frog jumped from above and smiled as he saw them. "Sir Crono! Art thou here to practice thy skill in swordplay with me?" 

Crono shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Frog. The King's been wounded, and..." Frog interrupted, shocked. 

"What?! The king hath been injured?" Crono quickly told him all they had heard of the recent battles, the king & queen, and the hero. When he was done, Frog's face was lower then Crono had ever seen. It was like all his noble energy and spirit had been drained away. "I see... then thou hast seen the lad..." 

Lucca walked over. "Frog, will you help us?" 

"...There is nary a thing I canst do against Magus... please be on thy way..." He went over to the chest and stood there, unmoving. 

Crono tried to come nearer. "Frog! Come on!" 

"The hero, I am not. I can do naught." Robo spoke up for the first time. 

"I do not think anything will change his mind... we should leave." So they did. 

*** 

The Denadoro Mountains, a famous range to the east of San Dorino. A wild, untamed place of beauty-and danger. Crono wiped his sword off on a nearby bush. "Stupid Bellbirds. They had to wake those two Goblins up, didn't they?" 

Lucca raised an eyebrow. "You want a straight answer to that?" 

Up ahead, a ladder led up to the mountains proper. As they prepared to climb, a 6-year old boy with a small sword and shield ran down and away, screaming wildly. The three stared after him. 

"My sensors indicate only a 10% chance that the boy is truly a hero. What was he running from?" As if to answer the question, a single Goblin ran down after the boy, saw the three, yelped and ran back up. "Make that 5%." Robo amended dryly. The boy turned back to them. 

"Whoever you are, you should run! This is a horrible place! AAAAH!" As he ran away again, the Goblin mashed Robo in the head with a large wooden hammer. 

"He just went to get his hammer. Figures. FIRE!" Lucca's blast burned the hammer to a cinder and sent the Goblin away, a screaming, flaming mess. Crono grinned. 

"Good one, Lucca. You okay, Robo?" 

"...Affirmative." 

"Okay, then, up we go. Lucca, lead the way." Lucca muttered a yddish curse and began to climb the ladder. On the second level, the three saw another Goblin fast asleep. They passed by, avoiding disturbing it. As they passed by some bushes, Crono suddenly turned towards them, blade forward, and the Ogan that had jumped them, hammer out, was neatly skewered. 

The path then led into a foresty area. As they went by, Lucca spotted a Free Lancer, a birdman Mystic, twirling through the trees. A moment later, the Free Lancer and a buddy dropped down, swords out. 

Crono quicky drew his own sword and faced down one Free Lancer, while Lucca took aim at the other. Unfortunately, the Lancer jumped and the shot only grazed its foot. The birdman squawked and threw a ninja star which embedded itself in the barrel, blocking the fire. Lucca swore and attempted to extricate it, but the Lancer was already swooping in on her... 

When Robo belted it so hard, its beak actually cracked as it slumped back. Lucca finished digging the star out as she looked at Crono, who was wiping his blade off on his opponent's corpse. "Amateur," he commented. "Onward!" 

Back on the cliffy area, they were encountering no enemies, until a rock struck Crono on the head. "Ow! The hell?" 

The source was a Free Lancer on the other side of the chasm. It snickered nastily as it chucked another, barely missing Lucca's glasses. "Yah! Cut it out, you creep!" 

"Cut it out, you creep!" The Lancer mockingly replied as it threw a third at Robo. The robot was ready for it and punched it back, hitting the Lancer right between the eyes and knocking it out. 

Crono sighed as he saw what was ahead. "A stream. Time to get wet again." Nearby, a pair of Free Lancers were restringing bows. They didn't move as the three came up. Crono decided to try the friendly approach. "Uh... hi." 

"Shut up!" "Get lost!" The three shrugged and waded in, then out the other side. 

The path took them to a peak, and the three decided to stop a little and rest. The mountain air was particularly fresh up here, and despite his best efforts, Crono found himself dozing off... 

When he woke up, he was staring straight into the leering face of a very ugly Goblin. Yelping, he divided it down the middle as he scrambled to his feet. Looking around, he saw that Robo & Lucca were already up, and they were up to their necks in Goblins, Ogans & Free Lancers. "Damn! This isn't good! Any ideas?" Lucca looked at Robo. 

"Wanna try out that trick we were discussing earlier?" Robo nodded. 

"Chance of success is 74.9%. Chance of failure is 25%. Chance of mountain collapsing and deactivating us all is 0.1%." He paused. "I believe those are what you call, 'Sporting odds.'" Lucca chuckled. 

"Robo, I couldn't have said it better myself. FIRE!" The magic did not head for an enemy, but instead landed on Robo's fist. The robot turned to a Goblin and Rocket Punched it-hard. The flaming wreck smashed backwards with a hole in its chest, plowing through several others and knocking them all off the edge. Squealing, the remaining enemies fled. Crono wiped his brow. "Close one. No more rest stops. Onward!" 

On another peak, a Kilwala was lounging. "Hey, guys. Mountains r'nice, eh? This is the life." Crono stepped up to him. 

"Hey, bud. Do you know where the Masamune is?" The Kilwala raised its sunglasses and looked at him incredulously. 

"Man, you nuts? It's in a cave up ahead, but nobody who goes in there comes out again! 'Cept for that knight dude about 15 years ago." Crono smiled. 

"We'll be back. Thanks for the hint." As it turned out, the cave was next to the Free Lancer who had been throwing stones. He was still out cold. They stepped over him and went in. 

Inside the cave, for some odd reason, there was a small boy spinning around crazily. Crono cautiously walked up to him. "Uh... hi. Who are you?" 

The boy grinned wildly up. "I'm the wind! Woosh!" Crono looked back at Lucca & Robo. Lucca twirled her finger at her head and the three went past the boy. As they neared the back of the cave, they heard the boy yell, "Aw, crap!" as he ran in front, blocking the way. 

"Uh... couldja get out of our way, kid?" Crono asked politely. The kid stared into his eyes. 

"Are you here for the Masamune?" Lucca snorted. 

"What, you think we'd fight off an army of fatass Goblins just for the fun of it? DUH, we're here for the Masamune!" The boy looked peeved. 

"Crap, I thought so. Just a second, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he yelled towards the back. "Oh, big brother... Masa, get yer butt out here!" Another boy, almost identical, came out. The only difference between them was that one boy's eyes were blue, while the other's were purple. 

"What is it NOW, Mune?" Then he saw the three, and sighed. "Not again..." He came up and glared at Crono. "Thought you'd get a name for yourself by grabbing the Masamune, eh? What a buffoon!" 

"No, that's not..." Crono started, but Mune interrupted. 

"Humans are so... silly! It's how you USE the sword that matters... not who owns it!" 

"Yes, we k..." Lucca tried, but she, too was interrupted, this time by Masa. 

"You just can't understand that kind of thing. It's why you're human." 

"Excuse me, but..." Even Robo was stopped. 

"Well, what shall we do with them?" Crono sighed inwardly. They weren't even being allowed to talk! If those two kept it up, they'd be feeling the flat of his sword, kids or no kids. 

"The usual... test them. You can entertain us for a while." What did THAT mean? 

"Yay! Here we go!" The two brats spun around, then suddenly transformed into a pair of yellow gremlins wearing white robes. 

"Yaaa! They're monsters!" 

"Gee, ya think so, Lucca?" Crono yelled back as he performed a Spincut on Mune. The creep grinned up. 

"Ow. X-Strike!" Crono recognized that technique. 

"Oh..." That was all he got out before the twins slammed their fists into him in the same maneuver he and Frog had used on Yakra. The two didn't let up. "Waltz of the Wind!" Dancing around him in a circle, they created a spiraling tornado. But as Crono distracted them, Lucca & Robo had been preparing. 

"Fire Punch!" Masa was completely unprepared for the blow that rocketed him across the room into the back wall with a sickening crunch. 

"Masa!" Mune gasped. Without him, the tornado died out. Crono stood up, dazed. 

"Phew. Good thing ya did that. I dunno what would have happened if that had kept up longer. Had enough?" Mune just growled angrily as Masa stumbled back in, rubbing his head. 

"Ow... what a kick... they're pretty good, eh bro?" Mune observed them carefully. "Yeah. The only one better was Cyrus." "Well, ya know what that means. No more goofing off!" "Yeah! This time we're serious!" 

Lucca almost exploded. "THAT was goofing off?" 

The twins ignored her and stood across from each other, going into fighting stances. "With Masa's bravery and..." "Mune's knowledge!" "TWO BECOME ONE!" As they spoke the last part together, they charged and a hole opened up in the air. Flashing with prismatic colors, they disappeared in... and a nightmare came out. 10 feet tall, the yellow demon had a fat gut but incredibly muscled arms. The head sported a pair of horns, and the eyes shone with fury. "TIME TO DIE, LITTLE ONES!" 

*** 

Crono lept into the air and performed a Spincut, but the monster just grinned and knocked him out of the air with a fist. "Yar! This thing's nasty! Lucca, Robo, try the new technique!" 

"FIRE PUNCH!" The attack slammed into the beast's gut, and it staggered for a moment before creating a pillar of wind that lifted Robo into the air. Crono looked to Lucca. 

"I don't think he's coming down until we land a good hit! Fire seems to hurt 'im. Shall we dust off an old technique?" Lucca grinned. 

"Gladly. FIRE WHIRL!" It didn't do as much damage as the Fire Punch, but it still clearly hurt it. The monster angrily turned the tornado to Lucca, and Robo came crashing back down. Crono had a flash of inspiration and jumped onto the robot's head. 

"Robo! I have an idea! Channel your Laser Spin into my sword!" Robo shrugged and complied. "ROCKET ROLL!" A blazing wave of energy radiated outward at the enemy, who took it before moving the tornado again, this time to Crono. Another Fire Punch was the response, and the fight continued. 

As the battle dragged on, it became apparent that the monster was getting the worst of it. He could only keep one of them up at a time, and whenever he did, the other two would strike, be it with Fire Punch, Fire Whirl or Rocket Roll. They were doing more damage to him than he was doing to them, and sooner or later he'd be worn down. Eventually, he decided there was only one thing left to do: The ultimate wind spell. 

"What's he doing?" Crono asked as the monster crouched, unmoving. Lucca scowled. 

"I dunno, but it probably ain't good. FIRE PUNCH!" 

The monster ignored the flaming fist to the face. "Pain..." 

Robo blinked, then jumped. "Pain? What did he mean by tha... oh, my! Immense energies detected from enemy! Prepare for massive magical attack!" As if to agree with him, the monster suddenly spewed a blast of wind that quickly grew and amplified until the entire room was filled with a huge tornado. The three were whirled around, battered against walls, each other, and the monster (who batted them away with punches) over and over. As he bashed into Lucca, Crono knew they would be dead if he didn't do something. He searched his memory desperately, frantically, for anything that could stop the attack. Suddenly, he remembered Toma's advice. 

_There's rumored to be a giant monster up there that can use wind magic. Your Ki Wave should be able to neutralize it._

"Sword, don't fail me now! SLASH!" The Ki Wave flew straight and true, burying itself into the beast's face. With a roar of agony, the tornado dissipated immediately, leaving the beast completely defenseless, clutching its face. "Lucca! Now's our chance! Toss me a Fire!" Crono lept into the air with another Spincut, and Lucca threw a Fire straight into his path. As he descended, the red magic enveloped his sword. "Time to finish this! FIRE SWORD!" The monster looked up, but it was too late. The attack smashed straight through its skull, and with a rush of red magic, the entire head was enveloped in flames. Crono ran back as the monster's body fell over onto its back, began flashing rainbow light and exploded, leaving the two imps behind, who then flashed back to their human forms. 

*** 

"He beat us, big brother..." Mune murmured. "Yeah." "Will they fix us? Will they find us an owner?" That one made the three jump. "Yeah... it'll be all right." With that, the twins jumped back into the shadows. 

When the three followed, all that was there was the blade of a broadsword with no hilt. Robo scanned it. "It is the Masamune. However, I detect that it has been broken for at least 10 years." 

Crono sighed. "Damn. Now we have to find the hilt and get it fixed. Shoulda known it wasn't gonna be that easy." Lucca scoffed and clocked him. 

"You call that easy?" Suddenly, Masa's voice came from the blade. "Allow us! We'll ride the wind to the base!" As they were lifted into the air, Crono thought for a moment and smiled. 

Masa... and Mune. Masamune. 

*** 

The next day, they went south again. First stop, obviously, was Tata's house. When the boy opened the door, Crono reached out and picked the boy up by his collar. "I think you have something that doesn't belong to you..." 

Tata squealed and threw something at their feet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Some frog guy dropped this in a Cafe!" Crono dumped the kid on his butt, grabbed the medal and walked off. Following, Lucca whispered to Robo, "I think he's ticked." 

When they arrived at Frog's house, he tiredly turned around to face them. "Thou hast returned..." Crono nodded. 

"I believe this is yours..." Frog looked in his hand, then jumped. "Th... the Hero Medal!" His eyes brightened for a moment, then he became gloomy again. "Aye, the lad was a fraud. Yet there is nary a thing I canst do against Magus. The legendary Masamune is required to defeat him. And I've no right to wield it, even if twas not destroyed." 

"Are you kidding?" Crono yelled. "You have every right to-" 

"Sir Crono, please... just leave me be. If ye knew my past..." Frog stopped, and started walking towards the back. "If ye wish, take what is in the chest. I have no use for it." Without another word, Frog retreated into the back. Crono silently opened the chest and removed the hilt of a broadsword, shining gold. 

"The hilt of the Masamune." He murmured. Robo bent over it. 

"There is archaic script engraved on it. R... O... I... H... C... L... E... M..." He stood up. "Roihclem?" Suddenly, he started making a strange noise. "Error! I read it backwards!" Lucca looked at him curiously. "Robo? Are you... laughing?" He paused, then continued. "Yes, I believe I am, Lucca. How odd. The correct translation is 'Melchior'." Crono did a 180 from where he was looking at Frog. 

"Melchior?!" 

*** 

****

JANUARY 19, 1000 AD 

Irvin groaned as he heard the crashing in his closet. Opening it, he found the guy and the robot from earlier, along with a different girl. His wife sighed. "We'd really appreciate it if you didn't do that..." Crono thought about that for a moment. 

"You know, you're right. It really isn't fair to you that there's a temporal disturbance in your cupboard." Irvin blinked. 

"Is THAT what that is? I never figured it out. No way to move it?" Lucca shook her head. 

"None. Not even getting rid of the cupboard. And we're gonna need to use it..." She had an inspiration. "I know! We can rent it out, like a room or something!" Irvin thought for a moment, then turned to his wife. 

"Well?" His wife nodded after a moment. 

"Okay. Shall we say 2000 a month?" The three conferred, then agreed. South to Melchior's they went. The old man was happy to see them. "Crono! Lucca! And whatsyername... Robo! What brings you here?" Crono silently opened his pack and removed the pieces of the Masamune. The old man nearly had a heart attack. 

"Th... if I'm not mistaken, this is the Masamune! How on earth did you get it?! It was lost over 400 years ago!" Lucca quickly formed a response. 

"We'll tell you that if you can tell us why your name was engraved on it!" Melchior sighed, and looked down at it. Crono blinked. Every time he had met him, the old one had been full of energy. This was the first time Crono had seen him actuslly look... old. 

"It's a long story... I know you'd love to hear it, but it's no use." 

"Waddaya mean it's no use?! Do you know what we had to go through to get this sword?!" Crono almost screamed. Melchior nodded. 

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. But this sword is made of Dreamstone, and it cannot be fixed without it." Robo processed. 

"Dreamstone? No record in my memory banks of such a mineral." Melchior nodded. 

"That's why I said it's useless. The mineral doesn't exist any more. The last of it was destroyed many years ago." He suddenly remembered something. "Of course, if I was correct about you, you won't have any problems. I don't know how, but... well, if you find any Dreamstone, come see me and I'll repair the sword." 

*** 

****

JANUARY 19, 0000 XD 

The old man was sleeping again, and Marle was nowhere to be found. Crono wisely decided to wake the guy from a distance. 

"Eh? Oh, it's you. What do you need?" Lucca spoke a single word: 

"Dreamstone." The man jumped, then settled down. 

"Dreamstone, eh? Try the south warp. 65000000 BC. Your friend's in Spekkio's room." 

In the room, Spekkio and Marle were sitting on a couch that had mysteriously appeared, and staring at a box with moving pictures and sounds. Crono blinked. "WHAT is THAT?!" 

Lucca smiled and ran over. "TV! TV!" Spekkio looked up. Crono noticed that he had another beer in his paw. 

"Oh, yer back! Hi, kids!" Marle looked up and smiled. "Hey! Where are we going next?" 

Crono absently answered, "65000000 BC," as he watched the "TV", which was showing a black-haired wierdo in a red karate gi shooting fireballs at some purple horned creature. Robo shrugged and sat down as well, followed by Crono. Several hours (and one snack binge provided by Spekkio) later, it was decided that Marle and Lucca would go with Crono to the prehistoric, and off they went. 


	7. Chapter 6: Prehysteria!

**__**

Chapter 6: Prehysteria! 

JANUARY 19, 65000000 BC 

"Ow..." Crono rubbed his head. What had happened? Let's see... he had gone in the Gate with Marle and Lucca... he had looked down... he had discovered he wasn't standing on anything... oh, yeah. 

The teen suddenly felt something... sniffing at him? Oh, great. Crono forced himself to his feet. Nearby, he heard the girls doing the same. A sharp hiss came from in front of him. Then, they opened their eyes-and almost screamed. 

"They're all green and scaly!" Marle yelped. Indeed, the creatures looked to be half-dinosaur and half-human. And they looked distinctly unfriendly. 

"I don't think they like us!" Crono observed. On cue, the creatures surrounded the three, leaving no escape. It looked like they were goners... 

But fate was with them, as a cavewoman charged from the right. Lucca shook her head. "She's a goner." But the scientest was far wrong, as the cavewoman smashed through the enemy ranks like a natural disaster. Dino-people flew in all directions, squealing. The three did a collective jawdrop as the surviving enemy ran for the hills like a T-Rex was on their tail. The woman stood her ground, shrieking unintelligible insults after them. When they were gone, she turned to the three. Crono gulped. 

"Um... let's hope she's not territorial..." Fortunately, it appeared she wasn't, as she dropped to her hands and knees and began sniffing at Crono's feet. He groaned and facepalmed. "Again with the sniffing? Why me?" 

The cavewoman stood up. "Hm. Ayla smell that man is good fighter. Ayla like!" Lucca immediately began laughing her butt off, while Marle growled and muttered, "She better not get TOO friendly..." The woman sniffed at the girls next. "Women good fighter too. Ayla like also!" This just made Lucca laugh harder. Marle calmly grabbed the scientest's head and rammed it into the wall until she stopped. 

Crono looked at the new lady. "Uh... hi. I'm Crono, and they're Marle and Lucca. What's your name?" She grinned and let out a howl. 

"AAAAYYYYYYLLLLAAAAA!" After she was done, the three uncovered their ears and Crono spoke up again. 

"Okaaaaay... nice to meet you Ayla." She grinned. 

"Where come from?" Crono blinked. Lucca decided to try explaining it. 

"We're... from way after the day after tomorrow." Ayla scowled. 

"What you say? No talk rubbish or Ayla, head go boom!" Lucca backed up. 

"Yow! I don't think she understands, guys..." Marle sighed. 

"Ayla, where do YOU come from?" Ayla pointed to the west. 

"Ioka Village! We go!" Without warning, she took off at full throttle. The three halfheartedly followed her. 

"Hey, Kilwalas!" Crono noted. Four of the white fuzzies were dancing around a large rock in a circe. "Hey, guys! Wazzap?" The Kilwalas shrieked and charged at him, waving spears. 

As the three ran, Marle commented, "Crono, do you remember that movie Spekkio showed us about pygmies?" 

"Shut up." 

*** 

A day's hike later, they found Ioka Village, a community of rough tents made of dinosaur hide on the banks of a river. Ayla turned to the three. "Ayla go now. Busy. Crono talk to people!" Off she went. 

The three spent about an hour talking to the people about many different things. One man said that lightning stunned dinosaurs. A woman told them that the Chief had the red rock. Several children commented that they wore "strange skins". One particularly dull man asked them if they were Reptites. 

"Right, enough socializing with neanderthals. Where's Ayla?" Crono was tired. 

"Maybe she's at that big area they won't let us in." Marle suggested. 

However, the cavemen at the entrance simply said "Go see chief. Not ready yet." As they walked off, Crono saw one tent that was decorated more colorfully than the others. 

"Hm. Is that the chief's hut? Let's see, girls." Inside, Ayla was puttering with a pot of something. Lucca blinked. "Ayla! You're the chief?" Ayla heard them and turned around, smiling. 

"Yes, Ayla chief. Party now!" 

*** 

It grew dark quickly. As soon as the sun set, the entire village moved to the blocked-off area. The three could now see that it was a festival ground. Ayla stood up on a "podium" made of leaves and branches. 

"New friends! Strong man, Crono! Strong women, Marle, Lucca!" "UNGAAAH!" The cavepeople yelled. "Party now! Dance! Food! Fun!" 

The music started up, and Crono almost choked. It was almost the exact same tune played by a band at the Fair! He turned to Lucca, who had had a similar reaction. "I think I should talk to the musicians..." Lucca nodded. "Good idea. I'll sample the poi. Where's Marle?" 

"I dunno. She slipped off." 

The musicians told Crono that they passed the song down with every generation. Apparently, it even lasted to the 11th century. As he started to walk back to Lucca, a hand grabbed his arm and he whirled around. It was Marle, and she was dancing! 

"Dance with me Crono!" The teen blushed. 

"Er... I don't dance very well..." Marle stopped and pouted. 

"Oh, poo! You've just never tried! Come on! Please?" He sighed. 

"Fine. Just this once." She immediately cheered up. 

"Yay! Thanks!" She led him into the crowd, and they danced. Crono was pretty bad at first, like he had said, but the rhythm was simple, and he soon picked it up and was dancing like a pro. 

__

Ooga bunga munga meeple 

Dance with wind people 

Ooga bunga munga meeple 

Dance with mountain people 

Ooga bunga munga might 

Sing and dance all NIGHT! 

As they danced, Crono suddenly felt a burning pair of eyes on him. Looking around, he saw a single caveman on the edge of the party, glaring at him. _What's with that guy?_ Crono wondered as he was pulled away by Marle. 

"See, I told you it would be fun!" Marle told him. 

"Yeah... it was, wasn't it?" Crono admitted. Marle smiled. 

"Crono... thanks." Then she kissed him, and fireworks exploded in his head. The moment seemed to last forever, and even after she broke it off, his brain stayed frozen. She laughed at his vacant stare. "Let's go see how Lucca and Ayla are doing, shall we?" Dumbly, he followed her. 

Lucca was grinning as they walked up. "Hey, Marle. Whatja do to him?" Marle blushed. 

"I... uh... kissed him." Lucca burst out laughing. 

"Yeah, that would do it. Hey, Crono! Have some poi!" Crono mutely sat down and Lucca gave him a bowl. He took a sip and immediately started spitting, back to normal. 

"ARGH! Lucca, what IS this?" 

"Jurassic poi! What else? Come on! Are you a man or a mouse?" Glaring at her, Crono chugged the bowl. When he was done, Lucca laughed drunkenly. "HahahahahaBURP!" Now it was Crono's turn to laugh. Marle moaned. "Great. They're drunk on poi." She noticed Crono was gone. "HEY! Lucca, where'd Crono go?" 

"Uh... he said something about Ayla and the Dreamstone..." 

Ayla smiled and dug around in a pile of stuff. "Ayla hear Crono want red rock, so Ayla bring." Lucca and Marle ran up just in time to see Ayla pull out a red crystal as big as a football. "Rare, rare red rock sign of power! Ayla strongest in tribe, so Ayla have. Crono want, then Crono must beat Ayla!" Marle gasped. 

"Crono, don't even think about it! You'll be creamed!" Crono, however, didn't hear her. 

"Uh... okay..." Ayla grinned wolfishly, then stood up. 

"This party, so we no fight. We have contest! Bring plenty soup!" Cavemen brought over a pair of huge pots, each filled to the brim with poi. "Whoever drink pot first win red rock! Start now!" With that, Ayla picked up her pot and started chugging. Crono blinked owlishly and attempted to do the same, but it was too heavy, so he resorted to sticking his head in. Lucca was actually rolling around with laughter, while Marle refused to watch. Ayla had gotten the lead, but Crono was catching up. Ayla kept the lead, though. It looked hopeless. As she was about to finish, she dropped it! Yelling, she picked it up, but it was too late. Crono was done. Sighing, she handed over the rock. "Enough. Crono win. Red rock is Crono's." 

Marle cheered. "Crono, you did it! Crono? Crono?" But he didn't hear her. He had passed out. Marle grumbled and decided to watch Lucca do the "Drunken Sailor's Hornpipe" on front stage. 

*** 

In the morning, the first thing Crono saw when he woke up was a dead fish. "Hell of a way to start the day..." He muttered as he raised himself off the food area. Looking around, he saw Marle sleeping on a huge leaf near him, and Lucca in a tree. "Oy! Marle! Wake up!" 

"Yawn... oh, hi, Crono!" She smiled as she got up. "Great party. Where's Lucca?" Crono pointed into a tree, and she laughed as he walked under her, grabbed the branch, and shook it wildy. 

"What the-YAAAAA!" With a resounding crash, Lucca landed face first. A moment later, she had Crono by the throat. "Grr..." 

Crono pulled her hand off his neck and backed off. "Hey, calm down, drunk girl." 

She seemed offended. "Drunk girl?! Liar! I was a perfect lady last night! Although I seem to have lost track of several hours... Urp!" She ran into the bushes, and Marle wrinkled her nose at the sound of the scientest's retching. After the noise stop, there was silence for a moment, followed by a startled yelp as Lucca ran back in. "The Gate Key... it's gone!" 

"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Crono screamed. Marle looked around frantically. 

"Hey! Look, footprints with claws!" 

"Claws...?" Lucca pondered. "Let's go see Ayla about this!" 

Ayla appeared to be still asleep. Crono started to go in, but Lucca and Marle firmly pulled him back. "Na-uh. Let her fellow women wake her up." Crono gave in and stayed outside. He heard them talking for a few minutes, followed by a loud war-cry and Ayla dashing out, her face like a thundercloud. 

"Crono! Lucca say your stuff gone! True?" Crono nodded, and Ayla let out another war-cry. "Must be Reptites! We go to Reptite Lair! Get Crono stuff back!" Ayla paused. "Problem. We take only three people, or Reptites see us coming! No good!" 

Lucca sighed, then raised a hand. "I'll stay. I wanna learn how to make that Jurassic Poi, anyways." Ayla nodded. 

"Okay. Lucca stay. Crono, Marle and Ayla go to Reptite Lair!" 

*** 

According to Ayla, the Reptite Lair was in the Forest Maze to the south. However, the first thing they saw in the Maze was not a Reptite, but the angry caveman that had been glaring at Crono during the party last night. Ayla immediately ran up. "Kino! What you doing here?" The caveman turned, a sad expression on his face. 

"Ayla..." 

"Tell Ayla! Now!" 

"Kino... take Crono stuff... but Reptites follow... steal stuff!" Ayla growled and whacked Kino over the head, smashing him to the ground. Marle blinked. 

"Um... ow?" 

"I'd say that's an understatement." Crono commented as Kino got back up. Ayla growled. 

"Why Kino do this?" Kino looked down. 

"Ayla like Crono... Kino no like..." Crono and Marle both sweatdropped as Ayla yelled some more. 

"Kino dummy! Ayla like Kino BEST! Now get back to village!" Kino nodded and ran away. Ayla looked after him. "Kino is strongest man in village... so if Ayla die, Kino is next chief." She shook her head, throwing off her mood. "We go to Reptite Lair now!" 

The trip through the maze was fairly uneventful, with only a few fights, mostly with giant Cave Apes, angry Gold Eaglets or more pygmy Kilwalas. When they reached the end of the maze, in front of them was a large mountain. Crono groaned. "More mountain climbing?" Ayla shook her head. 

"No. Reptites INSIDE mountain." She led them over to one side, and Crono saw a large cave in the side. Marle smiled. 

"Ah, the mountain is hollow! Well, at least we don't have to climb it. I think one trip through the Denadoro Mountains was enough to last me a while." 

Inside, the cave was surprisingly well-lit from torches on the walls. Ayla started to lead them in, then drew them back, hissing, "EvilWeevils!" Marle blinked. 

"Surely we can take 'em!" Ayla grinned, then pressed her finger to her lips. The three watched as one of the EvilWeevils turned its pointed nose to the ground and dug a large hole, then crawled in. As soon as it had, Ayla ran straight forward and dived in. After a moment of surprise, Crono and Marle followed, ignoring the shrill cries of the other EvilWeevils.

The hole quickly led to a large room, and Crono saw Ayla facing off the EvilWeevil and a pink-and-green flower. The EvilWeevil already had a large dent in its side. As Crono & Marle ran over, the bug plunged its proboscis into the plant's blossom. With a squeal, it shriveled and died, but the dent in the EvilWeevil flatttened out, and the bug charged, sticking Crono in the arm. The retaliatory slash sent it across the room, and Ayla finished it off with a well-aimed punch. Crono winced as the wound spurted,and Marle prepared to cast Aura. However, Ayla beat her to it. As she blew him a kiss, a wave of pink energy washed over him, and the wound was healed. 

_That felt a lot like Marle's Aura_, he thought as the girls dragged him down the next hole. 

A 2-ton mass of blubber and scales met them. "Crap! A Megasaur!" According to paleontologists, these dinosaurs were among the most feared predators of the time, along with their stronger relatives, the Terrasaurs. Crono decided to start things off the best way he knew how. "Lightning!" He was completely unprepared for the response: It shrieked and went completely limp. Ayla was gaping. 

"Crono! How you do?" He smiled. 

"It's called magic." She thought. 

"Ma-geec. Only Azala be able to do like that before." Marle facepalmed. 

"This Azala knows magic?! Just great. Ayla, wouldja mind taking out this fat lug before he wakes up?" Ayla obligingly spun into a somersault and finished with a kick that imploded the beast's forehead, and down they went... 

...Landing in what appeared to be a break room for the Reptites. Crono groaned loudly as they surrounded the three. "Blast this deja vu. Run for it!" Ayla led the charge for the door, smashing through any Reptites in the way, while Crono kept the ones following them at bay with Lightning, and Marle picked off the snipers with her bow. When they got through the door, another Megasaur met them. One more Lightning, and the dinosaur went limp like the other. Ayla grinned, and with a Rollo Kick to its rear, she plugged the door with the inert monster. 

Crono paused and surveyed their surroundings. To their right was a Cave Ape and a pair of the mushroom-like Shitakes, and a dead end. While to the left was a large door, guarded by two Reptites and a Megasaur. Marle pointed at the left path. 

"To Azala. Chaaaarge!" As the three whipped their heads up, Crono used his normal opener. 

"Lightning!" Nothing happened. "Gah! Out of magic power!" As he rummaged in his pack for a Mid Ether, Ayla took out one of the Reptites... and the Megasaur knocked her flying. Marle screamed. 

"Ayla! CURE!" 

_So, Marle's developed a more powerful healing spell._ "LIGHTNING!" The Megasaur crumpled, and the healed Ayla quickly flattened the other Reptite while Marle fire a bolt directly into the Megasaur's eye. 

"Well, time for our appointment with the bossman. I wonder if he'll have coffee and donuts?" 

*** 

Azala sighed as he heard the results of the scuffle outside. Memo to self: Get better bodyguards next time. He also decided that he would pretend not to notice them at first and continue examining the strange apparatus. "Hmm... how on earth could the apes have made something this advanced...?" He muttered absently as they charged in. 

"Mr. Azala, your three 'o clock is here!" Crono wisecracked. The reptite leader turned and stared at him. 

"What the HELL are you babbling about, kid? Interesting... you two look nothing like Ayla or the rest of those howling savages..." He turned a cold smile to her. "My dear, you look the same as always... barbaric." 

Ayla was not interested in exchanging pleasantries. "Give back Crono stuff! NOW!" 

"So that's his name, eh? Crono?" Azala looked back at the teen. "Well, Crono... I may give it back, if you tell me what it does... NOW!" 

Crono could tell the Reptite leader was spoiling for a fight, and no mattter what they said, the result would be the same. "It's an atomic flying toaster, you idiot." 

Azala was not amused. "Trying to be funny? We'll see how much you're laughing in a moment! Heeeere, Nizbel!" 

"Who or what is a Nizbel?" Crono asked Marle, who had gone white. 

"You don't want to know." As a huge form lumbered into view from the back of the cave, Crono went pale as well. 

"Oh, shit." It seemed a good thing to say. Nizbel was as big as Masamune had been, but where it had been yellow and fat, Nizbel had tough-looking grey scales and the figure of a master bodybuilder. Ayla immediately charged in with a Rollo Kick, but Nizbel knocked her back with one lumbering foot. 

"LIGHTNING!" Like the Megasaurs, Nizbel was immediately stunned by the electric attack. As Marle fixed up Ayla, the cavewoman assaulted her enemy, bashing and pounding everywhere. It seemed the Lightning had dropped Nizbel's defenses as well. Crono took the initiative as well, Spincutting deep into Nizbel's back. This seemed to jar Nizbel, and with a scream, the dino sent the electric energy back, rushing through the room. All three fell back, and Nizbel followed up with a crushing charge. Crono angrily sent another Lightning that stopped him in his tracks, and he turned to Azala. 

"Hey, Azala, do you know what killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age." He leapt into the air with a Spincut, and Marle fired an Ice into his path. With a butal crunch, the frigid blade impaled Nizbel's skull, and the mighty monster collapsed. 

"Unbelievable... you... you apes beat Nizbel?" Azala shrieked. Ayla strode over and grabbed the Gate Key out of his slimy grasp, then tossed him to the back. He stood up, and as a secret exit activated, he tossed out a parting shot. "Remember, we Reptites will rule the world! Your days are numbered, apes!" 

"Ayla not scared, Azala! Fight any time!" Ayla suddenly fell to her knees and let out a resounding belch that echoed through the entire cavern and blew Crono & Marle off their feet. 

*** 

"Crono leave now? No fun for Ayla!" The next morning, Crono had announced that they were going. Now they were saying their farewells. Kino was also there, and raised his head. 

"Kino sorry. Try to be strong like Crono!" Lucca grinned. 

"I had a great time. Thanks for the poi recipe!" Marle smiled. 

"Good luck with the Reptites!" 

"Yeah. Give Azala one for us!" Crono finished as they turned to leave. 

Ayla called after them, "Come back sometime! Dance, eat, fight, fun!" 

The Gate was only one trip to the Mystic Mountains away. 

****

JANUARY 21, 1000 AD 

The three gratefully accepted Irvin's offer of breakfast before heading down to Melchior. The old man smiled as they walked in. "Oh, hello. Given up on the Dreamstone?" Crono casually tossed the red rock at Melchior. 

"I tend to doubt it." For a moment, he thought Melchior was going to have a heart attack. He was just sitting there, staring at the stone. In his eyes, Crono could see memories were flooding him like mad, and it was several minutes before he could speak. 

"How... how on earth did you find the Dreamstone... and the Masamune... no, don't tell me. I don't think my old heart could take it..." He looked at Lucca. "Young lady, would you help me?" Lucca practically jumped. 

"Sure! I'd love to!" As they walked down, she turned back to Crono & Marle, grinning. "You two can be alone." Crono felt himself blushing furiously as he looked at Marle, who sat down on the couch and indicated that he should sit next to her. 

"Crono... it's almost done... when the Masamune's completed, we'll take down Magus, and the world will be saved..." 

"Yeah... but somehow... I dunno, Marle. I'm just getting this feeling that... it won't be that easy..." 

She sighed, then grinned. "Crono, do you remember at the party, when I kissed you?" 

"Yeah..." 

*** 

At some time, Crono must have fallen asleep. When he woke up, it was sunset, and Melchior & Lucca were coming up from the basement. "Sorry to keep you waiting." The old man was beaming, and Lucca held a long bundle. The two stood by the window, and as Lucca unwrapped it, Melchior announced, "Take a good look! THIS is the Masamune!" As she held it up, the last rays of sunlight caught and reflected off the sword. Beautifully polished, the sword was a masterpiece, with intricate designs all up and down the blade from a time long ago. A small orb of untempered Dreamstone formed the pommelstone on the smooth golden hilt, and he could tell instantly that the blade razor-sharp. 

"Awesome! What a weapon!" Marle was amazed. Lucca rewrapped the weapon and gave it to Crono, and Melchior nodded. 

"Crono... go and deliver that to Frog." 

"What the- how did you know about Frog?!" Crono demanded, but Melchior shook his head. 

"You'll know... someday." 

****

JANUARY 22, 600 AD 

After a couple days hiking to the south, the heroes arrived back at Frog's. "Tis' thee again." Frog said sadly as he turned to greet them. 

"Yes. And I believe... that this is yours." Crono said as he unwrapped the great blade. 

"This sword... tis' the... the... MASAMUNE?!" Frog was startled out of his wits. He quickly calmed down, but Crono still saw the gleam back in his eye. "I... I must ponder this turn of events. Remaineth here the night." 

_ ****_

JANUARY 31, 590 AD 

__

It was a wondrous time for Guardia. The Mystics were quiet, and the King had just been married. The only trouble was the Frog King, who had taken over the Denadoro Forest & Mountains, and stolen the Hero Medal from Guardia Castle. 

"Cyrus!" The great knight turned to see the youthful King Guardia looking back at him. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Cyrus nodded. 

"Yes, I am. It's time we broke the Frog King's hold on Denadoro and took the Hero Medal back. And I'd like to see that legendary sword that's rumored to be up there as well." The king nodded slowly. 

"I know you well enough to realize that nothing will turn you from this path. But be careful. Leene and I need you here, and I'm getting a bad feeling..." Cyrus bowed once, then walked out of the throne room. In the Hall, the knights were all gathered to wish him farewell. Cyrus's second-in-command walked up, a boy of 16 with great talent. 

"Sir Cyrus! We, the Knights of the Square Table, salute you and wish you well on your journey!" Cyrus nodded briefly and walked down the stairs, where Glenn, hs best friend and squire, was waiting. 

"Ready, Cyrus?" Cyrus nodded and they turned to leave, when another voice rang through the hall. 

"Cyrus!" It was Leene, the new Queen. Cyrus and Glenn both bowed. "Cyrus, make sure you return to us safely!" 

"Of course, your majesty. By your leave..." He walked through the door. 

"Glenn, you take care too!" The green-haired young man simply nodded once and followed Cyrus out. 

*** 

Several days later, they had arrived at the Denadoro Forest that surrounded the great mountains. "So, Glenn, where do you think the Frog King is?" Glenn shrugged. 

"I dunno, CyruMOVE!" The knight jumped to the left as a Naga-Ette slashed at the spot where he had been. Cyrus quickly turned and divided it in two while Glenn hit another with the flat of his blade, knocking it unconscious. Cyrus went chasing a third in the bushes. 

"Heh... you're alone, pacifist..." Glenn glared into the bushes. 

"Whoever's there, come out now!" 

"As you wish!" It was a male, humanoid mystic with blue skin. He grinned. 

"The name's Slash, and my job is to kill you!" With that, he whipped out a large samurai sword and charged at Glenn, who feebly tried to raise his blade and had it deflected. "Not good enough, kid!" As Slash prepared to deliver the final blow, another sword whooshed through the air. Slash screamed as Cyrus ran his sword through the Mystic's leg. Another, shadowy figure dropped down. 

"Slash! Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, but we need to get outta here, Flea! This guy's too good!" The two Mystics vanished back into the trees, and Glenn stood back up. 

"Thanks, Cyrus... that's another one I owe you..." A rustling in the bushes caught their attention, and Cyrus raised his sword. 

"Whoever's there, you'd better come out... now!" A very frightened-looking teenage girl emerged. "What's your name?" 

"S... Sara." Glenn nodded. 

"Sara, could you direct us to the Frog King?" She nodded, and started down a path. Eventually, they reached a clearing, and the Frog King was there, with two small retainers. 

"What? A knight of Guardia? I assume you're here for the Hero Medal?" Glenn and Sara fell back as Cyrus nodded grimly. Suddenly, there was a rushing sound, and the voice of the mysterious Flea rang out. 

"We decided to torch the forest! Have fun!" The Frog King did not seem to notice. 

"So you want it back, do you, knight? Well, then come get it! Gribbit!" Cyrus drew his sword. 

"As you wish, pollywog! En guarde! NIRVANA STRIKE!" The Frog King screamed as Cyrus's sword went deep into his massive gut. 

"Aaaiiieee! How dare you pick on a helpless amphibian!" Actually crying, he threw the Medal down and ran. "Filthy medal! I won't forget this!" As Cyrus pocketed it, Sara spoke up. 

"We need to get out of here! It's too late for this forest!" Cyrus nodded. 

"We're going to the mountains to look for that legendary sword. Care to join us?" Sara slowly nodded. 

*** 

"I don't like this, Cyrus..." Glenn voiced his opinion. "No Mystics anywhere..." 

"Ah, they're just scared because of the fire. It's fine, Glenn." 

"If you say so..." 

Sara pointed excitedly. "Look! There's the cave!" Cyrus nodded. 

"Right. Let's go in." Sara shook her head. 

"Only the Hero can enter that cave. Watch." She walked over, but as she attempted to enter, a golden barrier formed, and she was unable to go any further. Cyrus cursed. 

"Damn! And we came all this way..." Sara walked over to him, her eyes shining. 

"No... Cyrus, I think YOU are the Hero... go on. Me and Glenn will wait." Cyrus looked at her for a long minute, then strode in forcefully. Sure enough, the field did not block him. Glenn grinned widely. 

"I knew it! He IS the Hero!" 

"Mm-hmm..." 

Several hours passed until Cyrus finally emerged, holding a beautiful gold sword. "Glenn... I did it... I got the Masamune..." 

"Excellent!" An unfamiliar voice rang through the mountains, and the two friends discovered to their surprise... that it was coming from Sara. Her eyes shone an evil red as she was surrounded by a black light, and when it cleared, a fat, green lizard-like Mystic stood. "You pathetic idiot! Did you really think YOU were the Hero?" 

Glenn stepped back, shocked. "Sa... Sara?" 

The Mystic sneered. "The name's Ozzie, lout. I'm second-in-command of the Mystic army. The barrier keeps out all Mystics, so we needed some fool to get it for us! Give 'em the old 'Only the Hero' story. Works every time!" 

Cyrus's growl of anger became a roar of fury, and he charged at Ozzie, whom he had trusted... and a second, dark figure stepped in the way, and with one blow... shattered the Masamune. The Blade flew back into the cavern, but the Hilt went straight for Glenn and went through his right hip before tumbling off the edge of the cliff. As Glenn bent over in unbearable agony, the figure uncloaked itself. 

"My name... is Magus, leader of the Mystic Army." Glenn wheezed. 

"Cyrus... the sword... the Masamune... Cyrus, I'm a goner..." Cyrus grimly looked down at his friend, then back to his enemies. 

"Run, Glenn... I'll hold them off..." Magus sneered at this. 

"I'd worry more about yourself, Cyrus!" The Knight charged one last time, and the Mystic Leader smashed him back with a fist enveloped in blue lightning. Cyrus fell next to Glenn, mortally wounded. Glenn raised his face, and stared at Cyrus, who was horribly burnt. 

"Cyrus!" 

"Glenn... the King and... Queen... guard them... Glenn..." Those were Cyrus's last words, as the second part of the spell was activated, and the noble knight of Guardia burst into blue flame. 

"Cyyyrruuuus!!!!" Ozzie ignored the burning corpse and focused on Glenn. 

"What's wrong, kid? Aren't you gonna try your luck?" 

"Urr..."   
"What a wuss! Waddaya say, Magus? Can't you give him a more fitting form?" The dark mage grinned. 

"Why not? There's always time for a little... fun." As he gestured, a globe of rainbow light shot into the heavens. "The Frog King is a friend of mine, Glenn. I find your treatment of him most unsatisfactory. And the beauty of this spell... is that it only works on cowards!" On the last word, a bolt of rainbow lightning struck Glenn in the head, and with a scream, the young man tumbled off, with Ozzie's words ringing in his ears... 

"Guwahahaha! You spineless wimp!" 

*** 

Frog gazed around at his friends, sleeping. His eyes then wandered back to the Masamune. "Near ten years hath passed..." He sighed. "Can I do it? I've changed so much... alas, poor Cyrus..." 

*** 

"Awake'th, Crono!" The teen looked up to see Frog standing with the girls, a resolved expression on his face. "Though we may fail... let us go to Magus's Lair. Thou dost know of his power, correct?" Crono nodded. Lucca grinned cockily. 

"Nothing can beat us!" Marle also grinned. 

"We've come too far to lose to him!" Frog glanced at her oddly. 

"Aye... there is something... strange. Sir Crono, I must ask that you tell me of ye all." Crono nodded. 

"We need you to meet somebody anyways. We can tell you about it on the way." Over the two days they spent traveling back north to Truce, they told Frog of their story. He was highly skeptical until they demonstrated the magic, and even then was a little wary when they reached the Gate. 

"This will... send us through time?" Lucca pulled out the Gate Key. 

"Observe!" The Gate expanded, and Frog nodded. 

"Aye, lass. I believe ye. So, ye want ME to meet with this 'Spekkio'?" 

"Yeah. In you go!" 

****

JANUARY 26, 0000 XD 

After Frog was done looking around and meeting the Old Man, they took him in to Spekkio's room. Robo was there, and so was a blue Goblin... but where was Spekkio? Frog immediately drew his sword. "A Groupie! Stand back, sir Robo!" The "Groupie" began laughing. 

"Hey, bolt brain! Explain to your friend who I am before he starts something he can't handle!" Crono jumped. 

"Spekkio?!" The creature nodded. 

"Yeah, I'm a shape-shifter." He turned to Frog. "Wazzup? Hm... a frog. You're getting Water! IPSO FACTO MEENIE MO MAGICO!" Frog started to protest, but then stopped as the same glow surrounded him that had for Crono and the girls. Smiling broadly, he formed a giant bubble of blue energy that floated over and smashed into Spekkio. 

"Ow!" Frog chuckled, then turned to Crono. 

"A most interesting thing. Now, who will go with us to Magus?" Crono looked at the three others. "Hmmm... you girls okay if Robo comes?" Marle and Lucca nodded. 

"Yeah, it's fine. Besides, it's almost time for Outlaw Star!" Frog perked up at this. 

"Ah, yes, this 'TV' thing. May I investigate, sir Crono?" 

"Sure, we'll all take a one-day break to rest up." Spekkio raised himself off the couch. 

"That's all fine and dandy, kids, but right now I need to speak to Crono here in private. So OUT!" Grumbling irritably, the group complied. Crono looked at the fat blue thing. 

"What's the deal?" Spekkio looked up. 

"Basically, I think you're ready to ascend to the next level of magic." Crono did a classic jawdrop. 

"What?! Well, okay, but why'd you chase the others out?" 

"Because the process would attempt to affect all people in the room, and they're not ready yet. Would be painful. Now, then... IPSO FACTO MEENIE MO MAGICO!" The magical glow returned, stronger then ever, and Crono felt his already-strong magic powers growing stronger. 

"LIGHTNING 2!" A line of yellow sparkled spiraled outward from Crono, and a moment later, a fan composed of beams of yellow magic and lightning bolts radiated from him. Spekkio winced again. 

"Ow! Kid, I wish you'd stop trying your stuff out on me. Might as well call the other back in now, it's Outlaw Star time!" Robo was grinning wildly. "Wazzup, rustbucket?" 

"You did not tell me that random parts flew by here." Spekkio snorted. 

"Yeah, stuff gets lost through time, all the time. Speaking of which, I believe these are yours, kid." Spekkio held up a pair of stinky socks with reindeer on them. "Crono" was stitched on them. When everybody was done laughing, Robo spoke up again. 

"I found a two-second dash mechanism. Watch." Without warning, Robo went flying at Spekkio in a speedy tackle that sent the Master of War into a wall. 

"Dammit! Didn't I say not to use me as a training dummy anymore?" 

****

JANUARY 27, 600 AD 

Crono turned to Frog. "So, Frog. How do we get to Magus?" Frog looked blankly back. 

"I thought THEE knew..." Robo facepalmed. Crono suddenly perked up. 

"Hey, maybe Toma'll know!" 

It took two days of searching all three towns before they found him in a pub in Porre. The explorer looked up as they walked in. "Hey Crono, Robo... Hero." Frog jumped. 

"How didst thee..." Toma chuckled. 

"It's my job to keep my eyes open. So, you wanna get to Magus? Well, I'm afraid I don't know how..." Their faces fell. "...But I do know who does. He's a Hench who lives east of San Dorino... small guy..." Crono broke in, incredulous. 

"Murray the Midgit?!" Toma nodded. 

"Yup. I gotta go now, guys. Keep it real." Crono and Frog stared after him for a while, until Robo spoke up. 

"Excuse me, but I believe he has left us with his tab again..." 

*** 

Murray groaned as the rapping came again. Probably just kids again, he thought. Time for the big scary Mystic routine. He whipped open the door. "BLEEEEAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!!" Crono blinked. 

"Uh... hi?" Murray turned white. 

"Oh, crap..." Frog walked up, his face grim. 

"Dost thou know the way to Magus?" Murray nodded slowly. 

"Yeah, but why do you wanna know? Got a death wish or something?" Crono shook his head. 

"Nah. See this sword here? It's the Masamune." Murray whistled. 

"I see... well in that case, follow me!" The midgit Mystic led them to the east peninsula, and up to a solid stone wall. He pointed at it. 

"That's the place, buds. Remember, time moves at an accelerated pace while you're in there. For every minute you spend in that cave, an hour goes by in the real world. Now, I'm outta here!" Nobody bothered following him through the undergrowth. Frog just walked up to the wall and placed one hand on it... 

__

"Hey, you!" The cry ran through the forest, and the leader of the gang looked up, his face white. 

"Augh! It's Cyrus! Run for your lives!" The bullies fled, and the older boy walked over and helped their victim up. 

"Glenn, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, thanks Cyrus... hic!" Cyrus sighed and helped the boy to his feet. 

"Glenn, sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and not cry! Once you do that, they'll see that you're tough, and won't bother you anymore?" 

"But... it hurts when I get hit. They..." 

"...You're a marshmellow, Glenn..." 

The young man made a sight fit for a picture, standing on the edge of the bridge, hair waving in the wind. Glenn walked up, a smaller, less impressive figure. "Hey, Cyrus. What's up?" Cyrus didn't turn around as he responded. 

"Glenn... I've been thinking of becoming a knight." Glenn clapped a hand on his friend's back. 

"I KNEW you were gonna enlist! You'll make a perfect knight!" Cyrus smiled. 

"Hey, why don't you enlist too? You were better with a sword then me in our training..." Glenn looked down and didn't respond for several minutes. 

"...I dunno, Cyrus. Those were just dummies... I don't think I could really kill somebody..." 

Flashing with the same rainbow light, Glenn tumbled off the cliff... 

Frog opened his eyes and saw something glittering in front of his face. It was in the river, and so was poor Cyrus's body. "The Medal... the Hero's Medal..." The Medal had snagged on Cyrus's lifeless arm. If it hadn't it would have been washed away, lost forever... the Hilt of the Masamune protruded from a stump... 

Frog turned away from the wall. "Crono, hand'eth over the Masamune!" 

The teen instantly knew what to do. He walked over to the center of the clearing and plunged the sword up to its hilt in the dirt. "Take it when you are ready." Frog strode over, and looked down at it for a moment, then raised his arms to the sky. 

"Mine name is Glenn! Cyrus's hopes and dreams stand with me, and now, the Masamune... I swear upon this sacred blade, forthwith I shall defeat Magus and restore honor!" He placed both hands on the sword, and blue bolts of magic electricity flew around the blade. As he drew it, and raised it above his head, a globe of blue energy formed and grew, grew, until it encompassed a one-mile radius, then instantly concentrated into a single beam of golden light that shot straight into the heavens from the sword. 

It was a sight Crono would never forget. Gone was Glenn, the unsure pacifist, and neither was it Frog, their gloomy, self-defeating ally. Standing there, with the Masamune raised to the heavens, was the legendary Hero, shimmering in the aura of his power. Frog turned and, with one stroke of the blade, divided the rock wall in half, revealing a hidden tunnel, and the three men rushed in, ready for their confrontation with Magus. 


	8. Chapter 7: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served...

**__**

Chapter 7: Revenge is a Dish Best Served With Peas and Hot Sauce 

"So, those were called 'Gremlins'?" Crono asked as he wiped his blade off. Frog nodded. 

"Aye, and the batlike ones be Vamps. They will be found inside the castle, while the Gremlins will not." Robo beeped. 

"Does not compute. I detected that the Gremlins were stronger." 

"Aye, but the Vamps can be house-trained." Crono laughed at that, then jumped as a small bat landed on his head. 

"Hey! Frog, will this nuisance hurt me?" Frog shook his head. 

"Nay. 'Tis not a Mystic, just an ordinary bat. Harmless." Crono grunted. 

"Seems to like me. Shoo! Go away!" The bat just squeaked at him, and Crono finally gave up. "Fine, whatever. But don't do anything nasty, or I'll be making bat kabob!" He glared at Frog and Robo, who were trying to stifle laughter. "Come on, you two. Remember what Murray said: Time moves at an accelerated pace in here, so we want out as soon as possible. I think I see some light over this way." As Crono walked on, he stumbled over something and almost fell. The teen righted himself, then looked at it... and almost barfed. It was a corpse. 

"I detect that this person has been dead for quite a while." Robo murmured. Frog shook his head sadly, then pointed at the wall. 

"Poor fellow managed to write something in his own blood... a warning... 'Beware the Jugglers! They can change their defenses accordingly!'" Crono nodded. 

"We'll have to watch out for that. Let's get out of here." 

*** 

"Nighttime already." Crono murmured as they came out of the cave, then froze, as did the others. Only Frog spoke. 

"This must be..." In front of them was a huge castle, made of black stone. A family of bats left the dead trees around and flew upward, Crono's gaze following them. The castle had to be at least 4 stories tall, with one large tower rising from the center. Atop the tower, a giant gargoyle reared back, the full moon framing it. "...Magus's Castle!" 

As the three neared the castle, the double doors swung open by themselves. Crono idly noticed that the bat was still resting in his hair. 

The front hall was dimly lit by torches. The mezzanine had a large purple stained glass image with doors at either side. After a brief conference, they decided to take the door on the left. It led to a long hallway, with... people walking around? 

"This doesn't smell right." Crono muttered. Frog nodded. 

"Let us be on our guards." However, the people made no move to attack. The room at the end held only a throne-like chair, with a sword above it. 

"I detect that there is a 97% chance that the sword is trapped." Robo said. 

"Well, then we won't try to take it." Crono responded. "Nothing here. Let's try that other door." This led to a small room with four kids clustered around a chest. They did not attack either. Next was another long hall, but more important was who was there: Lucca! 

"Lucca! What are you doing here?" She did not respond, but just stared at the air before saying "Robo, don't waste your strength!" mechanically. Frog snorted. 

"An illusion. Ignore it." They did. On the way, they also found illusions of Crono's Mom and Queen Leene and treated them the same. The room at the end was similar to the other, except there was no sword. 

"Rats... dead-end here too. Now what do we do?" Crono asked. Dispirited, they headed back to the main hall, where Crono noticed something. "Hey! The floor in front of the stained glass is sparkling!" As they walked up, the torches all went out. The only light came from the glass, and around the center of that was a round shadow... the lights turned back on. 

"Heh heh heh! Welcome!" 

"Ozzie!" Frog snarled. The Mystic grinned and landed in front of them. The bat squeaked and flew over to his shoulder as he spoke up. 

"Well, well, well. Sir Froggy. Say, it looks like you found some replacements for Cyrus! I wonder what you could want?" Crono rolled his eyes. 

"We've got a 12:00 with Magus." Ozzie snickered. 

"Really? Well, I'm afraid he's a tad busy right now. You know, destruction of the human race and all that. I'm afraid you'll have to take up your business with me; the swordsman, Slash; and Flea, the magician... AND..." There were growls from all around, and the heroes suddenly noticed they had been surrounded by four Fat Henches and 2 Vamps. "...You'll have to defeat all 100 Mystics in this Castle!" Ozzie faded out, his laugh remaining last, as the Mystics attacked. 

"Go for the Vamps first!" Frog yelled as he followed his own instructions by chopping the first in two. Crono took the other one while Robo grappled with a Fat Hench. Another Fat Hench pulled him off and hurled him across the room, but the first was already out. The second Fat Hench's snarl broke off as the Masamune passed through its throat. The last two looked at each other, then ran in opposite directions. 

"I guess we go left now." Crono said. As they did, the little bat flew back down and settled back in Crono's hair. 

*** 

"Oy! Magus!" The voice suddenly rang through the shadowed chamber, and caused the one addressed to bang his head against the statue he was polishing. Cursing wildly, Magus picked up the object nearby. 

"What is it, Ozzie?" 

"Just thought you'd like to know, Glenn's here. He's brought that red-haired punk from Zenan Bridge and some wierd thing I don't even recognize. It ain't a Mystic, and it sure as hell ain't human." Magus snorted. 

"Well, I'm kinda busy, in case you hadn't noticed..." Ozzie snorted back. 

"No prob! We can handle those wimps any day! I just though you'd like to know." 

"Well, now I know, so get off the line and let me concentrate." 

"Yeah, yeah. I still say this idea of yours was a stroke of genius! Whaddaya call it again? Tookyprong?" 

"TELEPHONE, Ozzie. And believe it or not, it wasn't all my idea. Maybe I'l tell you about it someday. CLICK." Magus hung up, then took a look at the statue he had been polishing. 

"Looks good. Now, for the flame bowls." 

*** 

The five people who had been in the left path before were gone now. Instead, four of the skeleton Decedents were doing a strange dance, while an Omnicrone screamed gibberish. The three sneaked around past. At the other end, four more were fighting, observed by another Omnicrone. As they passed through the door, the Three heard it mutter "Only a BONEHEAD would try to kill something that's already dead!" 

The five people from before were standing in the "throne" room. As Crono, Frog and Robo entered, the young woman in the lead started to turn. "Help us..." As she completed the turn, she shifted into a Decedent. "...Relieve us from this misery!" The others all similarly shifted and attacked. "Use your Water magic!" Robo called to Frog as he busted one with his Robo Tackle. 

"Very well! WATER!" The bubble hit a Decedent who was about to perform a Leap Stab and it dissolved. Crono decided to just use his Lightning 1, and save the new spell for later, and they quickly wiped up the foes. As the last one bit the dust, a voice rang out. 

"Hmm... looks like you got past my... cadaver pals..." A spinning form, in blinding white light, appeared in front of the throne, then solidified into a lean, blue-skinned humanoid Mystic. Frog chuckled wryly. 

"It's been ages, Sir Slush!" 

"That's SLASH, you bumbling dolt! Playing the comedian, eh Glenn?" The swordsman looked at Crono. "Hm. You use a blade like mine, kid. Nice make, but mine's better." Crono nodded. 

"Yeh, I noticed. Guy named Melchior made mine." Slash started. 

"Melchior?! How..." He stopped himself. "Doesn't matter. I'll still whup ya." Here he turned back to Frog. "You'd be singing a different tune right now if Cyrus hadn't been there for you last time! You would've fit right in with those bony fellows you just busted up!" 

Crono and Frog took up the challenge and X-Striked, but the wily Slash was able to partially dodge and came back with a karate chop that sent Crono sprawling. 

"LASER SPIN!" Slash stood still and calmly watched the beams sear him. 

"So, you use magic too, rustbucket? Shadow-type, which explains why you didn't use it on my Decedents. Well, watch this!" Slash gestured, and a ring of fire spread out from him. Crono got back up. 

"Heh. Magic ain't your specialty, I see." Slash nodded, then jumped onto his throne. 

"Now, let's get down to business. This is going to do me a world of good!" He whipped the sword off the wall and jumped down. "And with no Cyrus to protect you, you're mine! You DARE challenge ME?" 

"Count on it!" Crono said as he jumped up and began fencing with the enemy. Slash grunted as the two swordsmen dodged, attacked, and parried. 

"You're good... but I'M BETTER!" With a quick movement, he sent a ki wave through Crono. It continued on to hit Frog, who cursed and jumped in, giving Slash a nice cut on the leg. Slash just laughed and jumped into the air, coming down with his sword first on Crono... 

...Who wasn't there any more. "What the-?!" He turned, but it was too late. 

"TRIPLE RAID!" While Crono and Frog performed the X-Strike, Robo used his Robo Tackle. The results were impressive. 

"AARGH!" Slash screamed as he dropped to his knees, letting go of his sword. He looked up. "Ah... you got me." Crono nodded. 

"Yup. Nice swordplay, though." Slash grinned, despite the obvious pain he was in. 

"Yours was pretty good too, kid. Here... take my sword, I won't need it for a while." Crono blinked. 

"Hey, I'm not that gullible." 

"No tricks. Mystic's honor. And yes, we DO have honor, contrary to popular opinion. It's just different from human honor." Slash chuckled softly, then stood up. "I still can't believe you beat me! But falling in the line of duty for sir Magus..." He struck a dramatic pose. "Leaves me with few regrets!" With that, there was a blinding flash, and Slash was gone. 

"Dost thou think he perished?" Frog asked Crono, who was trying out his new sword. 

"I dunno, really. I couldn't see if the wounds were mortal or not. But either way, there's nothing for us here. Let's check out the other way." 

*** 

The four kids were still clustered around the treasure chest. As the three passed by, one boy called, "Hey, do you want our treasure?" 

"Um... no, you can keep it." Crono called. The boy looked disappointed. 

"It's really good..." 

As the three walked away, Frog whispered "Good call, sir Crono." 

The illusion-Lucca was there too. As they passed, she called out, "Robo, don't waste you strength!" again. But then, her voice changed to an evil screech. "No matter what you do, I'll break you!" The three turned just in time to see her explode into two Fat Henches, two Vamps and one strange, blue spirit with cat ears and a goatee. 

"Dang!" Crono said as he divided a Vamp. "We got careless! Frog, what's that thing?" 

"A Sorcerer! Take it out first!" 

"NOW he tells me..." Crono groaned as he charged, but it was too late. The Sorcerer cackled and raised its arms, and shrilly screamed "DESTRUCTION ZONE!" With those words, an explosion blew all three backwards. The Sorcerer laughed again... then stopped as it realized its allies had been caught in it as well. The Vamp had been completely fried, and the Fat Henches weren't looking too good either. "Curses! HEA-" It broke off as it had a close encounter with the Masamune. Crono and Robo easily wiped up the wounded Fat Henches, and they continued onward. The clones of Leene and Crono's Mom attacked in the same way, and were dispatched. At the end, the throne held a strange, yellow creature with vestigial red wings and no legs. Frog glared at it. 

"The magician, Flea, I presume?" The creature made no response. Crono growled and charged, sword held high. The creature just laughed and exploded in a column of golden light. Crono got thrown back, and angrily took out a Mid Ether. 

"I'm getting real tired of that happening..." Frog snorted. 

"Hmph. Well, THAT certainly wasn't Flea. Where's the REAL Flea?" 

A female voice echoed from Crono. "Mwa ha... here, over here..." Robo and Frog stared at him, while he stared up... and the little bat flew out of Crono's hair, over to the throne, and in a flash of light, grew into a red-haired woman in a white jumpsuit and cape. The only thing that showed her as a Mystic were her pointed ears. Frog was not impressed. 

"Keep your guard up! This is no ordinary woman! Meet Flea, the magician!" At the word "Woman", Flea's face had grown indignant. 

"Woman?! I'm a GUY!" 

The three all did a collective jawdrop. Robo erked out "But... but its exterior is that of a female!" Their reactions caused Flea to begin laughing uncontrollably. Frog straightened up. 

"Enough with the mind games, Flea!" The Mystic woman sighed. 

"Oh, you're NO fun, you know that, Froggy?" She yawned loudly. "Poor old Froggy, with no Cyrus! And locked in that form! Dreadful!" She smiled and straightened her cape. "But since you've brought your new friends over to play... I'll show you all a good time!" 

*** 

Realizing the threat, Crono drew his sword, but she did not attack at first. The room was lit by a blinding flash, and suddenly, they were racing through space! Frog choked. 

"What sorcery is this?!" Robo blinked. 

"What do you mean? Nothing has happened." 

"Art thou blind, Sir Robo? Do ye not see it?" 

"There is nothing, I repeat." Flea said something most unladylike. 

"#&*$! Why doesn't it work on you?" Robo's eyes lit up. 

"Friends, it is an illusion! I do not see it because I am not alive!" Frog and Crono nodded and turned back to Flea, who cursed again. 

"Give up, Flea?" Crono taunted. The Mystic laughed. 

"Not even close! WIND OF POISON!" This time, they could all feel the sickly green mist. No illusion now. Crono held down the urge to vomit and forced his body up, ignoring the lancces of pain. He stumbled several times, but kept going. To his left he could barely make out Frog doing the same, and to the right Robo appeared to be forcing out some strange rust. 

"N-n-nice try, Flea. But it-t t-takes more then that to stop us. By the way, ap-pologies in advance if I b-barf on your cape." 

Her face changed to an ugly snarl. "Why, you little... PRISM BEAM!" Clouds that shifted between rainbow and pure black washed over them, and Crono's sight went dim. 

"Argh! Guys, I can't see!" 

"I have been rendered ineffective as well!" 

"Aye, same here! But ye forget, Flea, in this form I have my other senses enhanced! Sir Crono, she is about five feet in front of you! Sir Robo, 7!" 

"TRIPLE RAID!" The attack worked just as well on Flea as it had on Slash, and the magician flew back against the wall before getting back up angrily. 

"Okay, that's it! No more miss nice Flea! WALTZ OF THE WIND!" Flea jumped over to Frog and started dancing a circle around him, and a pillar hurricane rose, completely obscuring the knight. When she stopped, Frog's eyes had gone dim. With a grunt, he charged Robo, and the robot confusedly defended himself. While they grappled, Flea turned to Crono. 

"And now, for you." She just stared at him, and suddenly, the world was obscured by a pink haze, and Flea's voice rang out, although she was not speaking. _I am your only friend... they are your enemies... they want to hurt us... kill them for me..._ Crono couldn't resist the words. Silently, he drew his sword and charged at the still-fighting Frog and Robo. 

"Argh!" Frog yelled as the blade in his arm brought him back to his senses. "Sir Crono, what art thou DOING?!" Crono didn't respond. He just went for Robo, who groaned. 

"I regret the neccissity..." He dodged the swing and punched Crono square in the face, breaking the enchantment. 

"Whoa!" 

"BLAST YOU!" Flea screamed. Crono shook his head and got back up. 

"Let's finish this! TRIPLE RAID!" The attack sent Flea flying across the room, and as she hit the wall, the starry illusion vanished and they were back in her room. Flea groaned and looked up. 

"Ahh... how..." She bit her lip and looked down. "Okay, you beat me fair and square. I'll enhance the magic of one of you." The three exchanged a glance. 

"Well, Robo's out for obvious reasons, and I don't need it. That leaves you, Frog." Crono finally decided. Flea raised her hand, and Frog smiled. 

"HEAL!" Golden sparkles flew out from his hands, and washed over the three, and their wounds vanished. Frog looked over to Flea. "'Mystic honor' again?" 

"Something like that. Won't do ya any good, anyway; Magus'll still flatten you." She sighed. "How could I have lost... sir Magus..." One blinding flash later, she was gone. 

*** 

When they went back to the main hall, the stained glass window was sparkling again. When they stepped in front of it, everything went dark for a moment. Then they were in a long hall with many gargoyles. At the far end, they saw a fat, shadowed form. 

"Ozzie!" Frog snarled and charged. A pair of Fat Henches jumped out of the shadows and were quickly dealt with. As they ran past a pair of gargoyles, their eyes sparkled, and they suddenly came to life, leaping down to attack as two more Fat Henches came. 

"Grimalkens!" Crono groaned as he engaged one. Frog stopped and helped, while Robo sent the other flying with a Robo Tackle. The Grimalkens were quickly dealt with, and on they went. The rest of the hall was much the same. At the end, Ozzie was waiting, tapping his foot impatiently. 

"Bah! You guys are getting boring. Slash! Flea! Let's clean up the trash!" Frog drew his blade. 

"They can't help you now, Ozzie..." Ozzie gaped. 

"WHAT?! Why you... you... you fly-eating, tongue-flicking..." He stopped and looked all all three of them, glaring. "Uh-oh... Ozzie's... Ozzie's in... a jam!" He immediately turned and ran. Crono blinked. 

"He speaks in the third person when he's upset? Wierd. After him, men!" 

The room was a narrow conveyer belt, with a guillotine moving up and down on the center. At the end, it made a neat u-turn around the right wall. From somewhere, they heard Ozzie calling. 

"Welcome to Trap Room #1! Today's game is conveyer guillotine! Have fun!" 

"Bah." Crono said, as he easily zipped under it, followed by Frog and Robo. On the other side of the u-turn was the same setup, and another after. Both were dealt with easily. Before they could get on the identical fourth, Ozzie spoke up again. 

"Oh yeah? Well, try this!" Suddenly, the guillotines were going twice as fast! Crono and Frog still got through easily, but Robo had a near miss. One more conveyer belt... but this one had TWO guillotines! 

"Aw, crap." Crono muttered as he jumped on. He skirted the first, then had to run against the belt until the second one was up. Frog followed hesitantly, then Robo. But the robot wasn't fast enough, and the second one hit him on the arm. 

"Arrrgh!" Robo yelled as he got out of the trap. Crono checked him quickly. 

"I'm no Lucca, but it looks like the main damage is to the outer armor. Still, you won't be able to fight." Robo nodded glumly. 

"Urrrgh..." came from behind them, and they turned to see Ozzie standing next to a large crank. "You made it? Impossible!" Before they could get at him, he ran again. 

"Hold it! There's a treasure chest!" Crono called. Inside was what looked like a strange, metal half-fist, painted purple. "What is it?" 

"'Tis a cestus. I believe the Mystics call it a 'Doomfinger.'" Robo picked it up with his good arm. 

"Perhaps I can..." He slipped it on over his wounded arm, then flexed the fingers. "Yes! It works!" Frog smiled. 

"That be all well and good, but the fat one be escaping! Let us give chase now!" The three dashed after him... then yelled and tried to put on the brakes, as they ran right over the edge of a narrow walkway on the outside of the castle! Robo was the only one to actually stop (probably bacause he DID have brakes). Crono and Frog both tumbled over the edge, but Crono was able to grab the walkway with one hand and the Masamune with his other. 

"Urgh... Robo, pull me up..." Robo slowly began hauling the teen up, and he struggled to hold on to the great sword. "Faster, Robo!" Now it had cut into his hand, and his blood was starting to seep down it. Finally, he made it up, and the two of them hauled Frog up too. Robo used a Cure Beam on Crono's hand, and the teen looked over the edge for the first time (he had forced himself not to look down). It was a good 3-story drop. He shuddered. 

"Okay. From now on, we be more careful." The other two could only nod, then Frog turned and sliced a Vamp in half. 

"There be many of these around here. Try not to wake them up." The walkway slanted upwards, and at one point, they detected a small, green, round form ahead. 

"A Roly?!" Crono exclaimed incredulously. Frog groaned. 

"It be security. If we disturb it, the Vamps attack." 

"Well, we can't avoid-" 

"Actually, I believe there is half a ladder hanging down from this platform." Robo interrupted. He pointed to said ladder, and started down it. Crono and Frog exchanged a glance and a shrug, then followed. Sure enough, the Roly passed right over them without a sound. This worked just as well on the other two they met on the way up to the door that led back into the castle proper. 

The room appeared to be one large u-shape. As soon as they entered, Ozzie's voice came from the other side of the wall to their left. 

"Game #2! Hidden Holes! Are ya ready?" Crono blinked. There weren't any holes! 

"I think he's flipped his lid. Let's go put him out of his misery." He started forward. 

"Sir Crono! Wait!" Frog tried to catch Crono, but it was too late. With an evil cackle from Ozzie, a large hole suddenly appeared beneath Crono and Frog, and they fell down. Robo just blinked, then shrugged and jumped after them. 

"That was a pretty dumb move, huh?" Crono muttered as he stood up. Frog started to respond, but broke off as red eyes lit up all around them, with the clattering of bones. 

"Decedents! We're surrounded!" Crono yelled. "Looks like I have no choice..." 

"What do you mean?" Robo asked as he prepared himself to go down fighting. But it was not to be. 

"LIGHTNING 2!" Frog and Robo gaped as the powerful electric explosion destroyed every Decedent in the room, as well as lighting it up. The teen looked at them and grinned cockily. 

"Spekkio said I was ready. Now, shall we see about getting on with this?" As the room faded dark again, a sparkling green light caught Frog's eye. 

"Look! Perhaps that light?" As they drew near, the light shook, then divided into three that took off across the room like greased mice. 

"Damn! Catch them!" What followed would have been hilarious under other circumstances as the three ran around in the pitch dark, running into walls and, not infrequently, each other. 

"OOF!" Crono grunted as his face impacted with yet another wall. "Come here, you! GOT IT!" As soon as he touched it, both he and the light disappeared. A moment later, Robo had an inspiration and used his Rocket Punch to grab his. Not to be left out, Frog snared his with his tongue. 

The three appeared back at the beginning of the upper room. The hole was still there; apparently it took a while to close them again. Robo spoke up. 

"I can detect the hidden holes." Crono turned to him, indignant. 

"Why didn't you say that before?" 

"You did not ask." Frog laughed. Using Robo's directions, Crono made it around the u-bend and saw Ozzie next to another crank. 

"Eat sword!" He charged... and fell. After another bout of light-catching, they made their way to Ozzie again. 

"Eat sword... again!" Crono charged down the other side... and fell. After getting back up, he charged down the narrow strip between the holes. 

"Eat... Oh, for the love of..." One last round later, they finally made it around to the grand green one. 

"Urr..." Ozzie groaned as they strode up. "Gah... I KNEW I made it too easy! Next time, I'll put spikes in there." Crono smirked. 

"Lemme guess. You're gonna run now, and we'll have to follow ya?" 

"Yup. See ya!" 

*** 

"MAAAAAAGUUUUUS!" 

The dark mage rolled his eyes. "NOW what, Ozzie?" 

"They've beaten Slash and Flea, and are chasing me up the castle!" 

Magus groaned. "You SAID they were just wimps!" 

"So I was wrong for once in my life." 

"ONCE?" Magus chuckled darkly, then looked down at the bowl in front of him. "Look, Ozzie, it's almost ready. Just delay them for a little longer, and everything will be just ducky." 

Ozzie snickered. "Gonna have Lavos flatten them, eh?" The dark mage's face tightened and his eyes gleamed, but Ozzie couldn't see him. It was a speech-only connection. 

"Something like that." 

"GAH! They're here! GottagonowCLICK" Magus rubbed his eyes, then checked the bowl. "This one's ready. Only 6 more to go..." 

*** 

"I assume we'll be seeing more Rolys?" Crono asked as they climbed up the walkways. 

"Perhaps. Or perhaps Polys. I just hope they do not..." Frog stopped as a birdman similar to the Free Lancers of the Denadoro Mountains jumped out. Crono blinked. 

"A Free Lancer? Here?" Frog shook his head as he lopped its head off. 

"Nay. That was an Outlaw. They are specially trained by Slash, just as Flea trains the Sorcerers." 

"So what does Ozzie train?" 

"The Flunkies. They-oh, no!" Frog groaned as a black Roly came down. 

"What?" 

"A Roly Bomber!" He looked up. "Damn! Another foe as well!" 

The Roly Bomber saw them and suddenly doubled its speed, slamming into Crono... and exploding. The blast smeared him against the wall. 

"Ow... okay, from now on, we avoid those things. What about that other one?" It looked like the thing that had impersonated Flea. 

"Frog! Do you know much about those?" 

"Aye! It's one of the most powerful Mystics! It's called a Juggler!" 

"The ones that soldier put up a warning about? Just great." They all looked at the Juggler... who appeared to be asleep. Crono scratched his head. "Okay, here's the startegy. I'll open with a Spincut. Frog, you follow up with a Water, and Robo, you finish with a Robo Tackle." 

"Sir Crono, look out!" Crono turned to catch a fireblast in the face, courtesy of the Juggler. Wiping the soot out of his hair, Crono started the plan. It worked quite well: After the Robo Tackle, the Juggler collapsed in a bloody heap. 

They managed to dodge the rest of the Roly Bombers, although they did run into several more Outlaws. There was a Juggler as well, but it was asleep and they managed to avoid it. When they stepped inside, they found a hall with Ozzie clearly visible at the end. There were about a dozen holes in the floor with chains coming out of them to the ceiling. 

"GAME #3! WHAT'S GONNA COME OUT?" Ozzie cackled as he turned the ever-present crank, and the chains in the four holes nearest the group pulled out two Outlaws and two blue goblins with scimitars. 

"Groupies!" Frog called as he engaged one of them. "Don't let them get their Cyclone off!" 

"Cyclone? Like mine?" Crono asked as he engaged the other. 

"Aye!" 

While Robo distracted the Outlaws, Crono's Groupie began the dreaded Cyclone... only to find nothing. It looked up just in time to see the Spincut that ended its life. Frog had dispatched the other Groupie, and the two of them quickly helped Robo finish the Outlaws. Ozzie sneered. 

"The game ain't over yet!" He turned the crank, and the next four holes brought out two Outlaws and two Jugglers. The fight was rather short, even though the two species demonstrated the Fire Whirl. Frog's new Heal spell patched that up just in time to meet the final set... four Jugglers. 

"LIGHTNING 2!" Crono yelled as he jumped between them all. "Robo, Tackle! Frog..." 

"Aye, lad. SLURP CUT!" The two surviving Jugglers exchanged a glance, then simultaneously spewed flames at Robo. One Spincut and another Robo Tackle later, Ozzie was alone. 

"Urr... this takes the cake! Fine! I'll fight... AFTER you take care of the last 16!" Crono blinked as the green glob ran. 

"Last 16?" 

"If you remember, Crono, at the beginning he said there were 100 Mystics for us to fight. I have counted 84, not counting Slash and Flea." 

One more hall, lined with gargoyle pairs. Crono groaned. 

"This again. Ozzie's running out of ideas. Let's just plow through." The first set spewed two Outlaws, and the second two Outlaws and two Grimalkens. The third was something new, though: Two Outlaws, a Juggler, and two pink Goblins with crossbows. 

"Flunkies! Ozzie's special trainees! The crossbows be poisoned!" 

"Sounds like Ozzie. Let's get down to business." 

*** 

"What NOW, Ozzie?" 

"THEY'RE AT THE THRONE ROOM!" Magus jerked his head up and began cursing in several ancient languages. When he was done, he looked up at the statue. 

_I've come so close... I can't fail now..._ "Ozzie, I'm about to start the ritual now. I'm prepping the last flame bowl. I'm counting on you to delay them. Remember, it only needs to be for about 5 minutes. You're the last line of defense." 

"But... but... understood, sir! I won't fail you, Magus!" The mage smiled, despite his foul mood. 

"THAT'S the Ozzie I know as my top general. Don't let me down." 

*** 

The room was predominated by a huge throne. Ozzie was standing in front of it. 

"Thy time hath come, Ozzie." Frog said simply. Ozzie grinned. 

"Ha! Yeah, right! Sir Magus is already calling the reinforcements!" He struck a pose. "I shan't be defeated! No form of attack shall break ME!" With a laugh, Ozzie was encased in a block of crystal. Crono snorted and charged, sword-raised... and it bounced right off. 

"What the-?" 

"Toldja! Har har!" The crystal suddenly began glowing, and a globe of fire exploded from it, striking them all. 

"Perhaps my Robo Tackle..." But that proved ineffective as well, and so did the Masamune. Ozzie was laughing his head off. 

"It's no use! Give up!" Desperate, Crono tried a Lightning 2. Although it did not hurt Ozzie, it DID hit a crank to the left of him, and it began turning. A moment later, a hole opened to their left. Ozzie found this hilarious. 

"What are you aiming at, you fool? Wahahahaha!" But now Crono had an idea. There were three other cranks. He ran over to one and began turning it. Catching the idea, Frog and Robo began the other two. The first one opened a hole on the other side of the room, and the second opened... right where they had been standing a moment ago! As the last one activated, Ozzie was still laughing. 

"Uwee hee hee... EH?!" That was all he got off before the hole opened beneath him, and with a scream, he plummetted into the darkness. Robo looked down the hole. 

"What was with that guy?" Crono shrugged. 

"Beats me. Point is, we're past him." Robo nodded. 

"And now, I should go." 

"HUH?!" 

"It is obvious that magic will be heavily required, and that is not my strong suit." He pulled out the orb. "Girls, are you-" 

"Yeah, we've been watching the whole thing." Lucca's voice came from it. "Take Marle." 

"Are you sure, Lucca?" came Marle's voice. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. Robo?" A moment later, Marle was there and Robo was gone. Frog pointed at the sparkling throne. 

"If ye be finished, that should lead to Magus. Onward!" 

*** 

The room was pitch-black. As they walked forward, a voice called slowly, "Neuga, Ziga, Zimba, Zom..." The three slowly walked forward, and as they did, blue fires lit on either side of them. "Now the chosen time has come..." They kept walking, and when the blue fires stopped, so did they. "Exchange this world for-!" Blue fires, one at a time, formed a circle in front of them, connected to the lines to their sides. In front of the circle stood a massive, four-armed demon statue, each arm holding a red flame. The floor of the circle was decorated with strange murals. And standing in the middle of the circle, with his back to them... 

"Magus!" Frog drew the Masamune, and Crono & Marle followed. Their enemy did not speak at first, but was silent for an agonizing moment. 

"It... it's that stupid frog!" Magus finally growled. "Kissed any princesses lately?" Crono glanced at Marle, who was ignoring the comment. Frog, on the other hand, was smiling. 

"I hath gotten used to it. In fact, I rather enjoyeth this form now. And I oweth it all to ye!" Here, he raised the holy blade. "I hath something for thee... a simple gift, as a way of showing my gratitude..." 

Magus's head snapped up, although he did not turn. "Ah! The Masamune! Ozzie didn't mention that... now I see how you got past the Trio... and I bet you're just dying to use it!" From seemly nowhere, a wind began to blow. "The black wind howls..." Magus smiled. "Okay... give me your best shot..." He turned, and drew from nowhere a massive scythe. "..If you're prepared for the void!" 

"Spread out!" Crono yelled. Magus sneered. 

"Like that will help you... GEYSER!" A white mist covered the room, and evil souls rose from the floor, glaring at the three before flying into the heavens. "This spell will gradually sap your life away until I fall, or you die!" 

Frog howled a war cry as he charged, Masamune held high. For a moment, he feared it would break like it did for Cyrus, but he put it out of his mind and concentrated on the battle ahead. And that was what stopped him. For, unknown to any, that was the only thing that could shatter the Masamune: Doubt. Magus managed to avoid a mortal blow, but he still took the sword across his arm, and screamed. 

"AAAARGH! The... hell?!" He drew a symbol in the air, and four sparkles flew out of it and began circling him. One of them, a red one, detached from the group and went to his hand, while the other three, yellow, blue and black, combined and disappeared. 

"FIRE 2!" A small line of flames circled the dark sorcerer, and then a ring of red energy radiated out to the edges of the arena before filling it with explosions. 

"Ack!" Crono growled before steadying himself. "Oh, yeah? LIGHTNING 2!" The spell was cast, but the effect was wrong: Magus glowed yellow for a moment, then laughed. 

"Thanks, chump! That heals your friend's sword attack!" 

"Magus is immune to magic?!" Crono gasped as Magus went through his act again. This time, he selected a blue sparkle. 

"ICE 2!" Blue sparkled flew around him, and a ring of blue energy flew out before two massive ice chunks fell on the group. 

"Gah!" Frog turned and cast Heal. Marle stood up, then suddenly, her eyes lit up. 

"Crono! I've got it! Do a Spincut!" 

"What? Okay, fine, whatever. SPINCUT!" 

"ICE SWORD!" As the ice-powered blade descended, Crono expected the mage to absorb it again. Again, he was struck by surprise as Magus howled with pain and threw him back to the group. 

"What happened?!" Crono yelled. Marle smiled. 

"He can only be hurt by the type of spell that he casted last!" 

"Ah!" 

Magus was not amused. "You're too smart for your own good, girl!" He chose... the black sparkle. "DARK BOMB!" A globe of shadows rose around Marle, then exploded. 

"AAH! Crono, we don't have Shadow magic! Ow... CURE!" Crono turned to Frog. 

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" 

"Most definately, sir Crono!" 

"X-STRIKE!" The attack took Magus off guard, and he got a pair of nice slashes before using his scythe to force them away. 

"You dolts! LIGHTNING 2!" Crono smirked. 

"Bad move. LIGHTNING 2, back atcha!" The two attacks met in midair and passed right through each other. Then, Frog used Heal at the same time that Magus cast Dark Bomb again, this time on Crono. 

"Hey, jerk! Forget about me?" Magus turned to catch both bolts in the face from Marle's crossbow. Howling with rage, he ripped out another Ice 2. Frog smiled. 

"Sir Crono, a Spincut, if you would!" The red-haired teen complied. "I think I shalt call this... SWORDSTREAM!" The Water spell met the sword above Magus, and a waterfall led the blade right into his back. 

"GAH!" The scythe left a nasty wound on Crono's leg as he jumped back. The next spell, a Fire 2, was followed by another Masamune attack. 

_This isn't going as I had planned._ Magus thought. _They're getting the better of me. All right, it's time to pull out the big gun._

"The kid gloves are OFF!" Magus screamed as four silver orbs began orbiting him. 

"I dunno what those are, but it's not good!" Crono yelled as he charged in. "Take him out before he can use them! ICE SWORD!" Magus did not move. 

"Damn! SWORDSTREAM!" Magus did not move. 

"Curse it all! ICE WATER!" Even the double dose of blue magic from Marle and Frog did not move him, and finally, the orbs began glowing green and disappeared, and a triumphant smile appeared on the enemy's face. 

"Now, say goodbye! DARK MATTER!" A triangular rip appeared in the air, displaying the stars and shadows of deep space moving at an icredible speed, with a sliver of white light dancing wildly in the middle. Pure, unchecked shadow energy poured out through it for several moments that seemed like an eternity, and then the entire assemblage detonated in a blinding flash. 

Smoke everywhere. Magus grinned, then laughed. "You fools! You really thought you could beat me?!" 

But he stopped laughing when he saw something moving. A short, four-foot tall form, carrying a broadsword, marching through the smoke slowly and purposefully. Magus choked. 

"W... what?! IMPOSSSIBLE! Nothing... NOTHING could survive THAT!" But Frog was beyond listening. He had only one thought on his mind. 

"FOOOOOOR CYYYYYYRRRUUUUUUSSS!!!!!!" As Frog charged, the Masamune began to glow with a holy blue light. Magus feebly raised his scythe, but Frog ducked under it and delivered a blow that opened a wound straight up his full chest. The force of the blow sent him flying backwards, and he collided with the statue with a sickening thump before falling to the ground. And, as if even that were not enough, the impact caused the statue to teeter, and then fall forward onto its builder with a crash that shook the entire castle. 

Crono slowly raised himself, wincing. As he helped Marle up, he saw Frog and the statue. For a moment, Crono thought that Magus was dead, until a broken voice came from it. 

"W... what have you d... done with the Ma... Masamune?" 

All conversation was ended by the strange rumbling that began from behind the castle. Frog shielded himself with the Masamune. 

"Something cometh!" 

"Lavos...?" Marle asked. Crono cursed loudly. 

"DAMN! If it is, we are SO dead..." Magus was ignoring them all. Somehow, he pulled himself out from the statue and stood up, glaring at the wall where the statue had been desperately. 

"No... talk about lousy timing! Don't come NOW, you bastard!" The rumbling grew louder. 

"WHADDAYA MEAN?" Crono yelled. "YOU CREATED HIM, DIDN'T YOU?" Magus turned, an incredulous look on his face. 

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT IDEA, YOU FOOLS?! I WAS SUMMONING HIM, NOT CREATING! WHY THE HELL WOULD I CREATE HIM?! DO I LOOK INSANE?!" 

Marle shrieked. "GUYS! IT'S A GATE! AND IT'S... HUGE!" Sure enough, a blue orb was starting. But it did not stop where the other Gates did. It kept growing... and growing... until it encompassed the entire room. 

Over the noise, Crono heard Magus screaming "**YOU!** IF YOU HADN'T SHOWN UP..." The rest was lost to the noise. 

Frog was yelling, "WHOOOOAAAAA!!!" And then, they all spiraled out of control towards the center. Before he blacked out, Crono heard one last thing. A strange, alien squeal that sounded almost like laughter... 


	9. Chapter 8: Jurassic Park's Got Nuthin' O...

**__**

Chapter 8: Jurassic Park Ain't Got Nuthin' On This! 

"Crono..." _Darkness._

"Crono!" _Dammit, I wanna sleep._

"Wake up, Crono, before I freeze you to the bed!" _THAT was new. Might as well..._

"Uh..." Crono opened his eyes to see Marle smiling down at him. He was back in his bed, at his house, in Truce Village, in 1000 AD. _What the..._

"About time!" Marle frowned. "Now, are you gonna get a job today? We can't keep sponging off my dad forever just because I'm the heiress apparent!" Crono just stared at her. _Okay, what the HELL is going on here?_

"Crono! Get your butt out of bed already!" 

_Urr... ya know, I think this is a hallucination._ Everything began to turn dark again. 

_Yup._

*** 

****

APRIL 7, 65000000 BC 

"Unn..." Crono groaned as he slowly raised his head. "Gah... head feels like..." His eyes widened as he saw who had been yelling. "Ayla?!" 

The cavewoman nodded, relieved. "Yes! Crono wake up!" Marle looked up, awake now too. 

"Ayla, what are we doing here?" 

"Ayla have strange dream. Old man tell Ayla to go to Mystic Mountains. Everybody there, hurt. Ayla carry back. You been here unconscious for a week!" Frog groaned. 

"Argh... who be this lady?" Ayla looked at him. 

"Yummy frog! For Ayla eat?" She joked. Frog rolled his eyes, not in the mood for laughing. 

"Sigh... perish the thought, lass. Whither the blue-haired one?" Ayla shook her head. 

"Only find you. Blue-haired one more tasty?" 

Frog sighed. "He hath escaped me again..." Ayla grunted. 

"Whatever. You all rest now. Heads hurt bad." Crono winced again, rubbing his cranium. 

"Yeah, you're probly right... zzz..." 

The next time he came to, Ayla was gone. Instead, Kino was standing guard. The caveman grinned as Crono got up. 

"Crono feel better now? Good!" The teen smiled back. 

"Hey, Kino. Yeah, I'm better. Say, where'd Ayla go?" Kino's grin faded away into a worried frown. 

"Ayla go to Laruba village... Reptites planning final battle..." 

"What?!" Marle yelped as she got up. "The Reptites are still kicking?" Kino nodded grimly. 

"Yes. Azala very smart, divide his forces. Reptite Lair only had part. New lair, over in lava pits. Ioka Villagers no can attack." Frog winced as he felt the lump still on his head. 

"Ack! Lava pits? Even I couldst not cross those!" Kino blinked. 

"Eh? Why frog-man talk funny?" Frog glared at him. 

"Speak for thyself, neanderthal!" Kino growled back. 

"You want fight Kino?" 

Crono stepped in between them, waving his arms. "Hold it, hold IT! There's no sense in trying to kill each other! The Reptites are the ones we have to worry about!" Frog slowly nodded. 

"... Aye. Plus, Magus hath disappeared. It may have been that he was killed by the Gate on his wounds, but I doubt it. Now, we..." 

The knight was rudely interrupted when another caveman rushed in, smashing into Kino, who grabbed him by the arms and shook him roughly. 

"Igoo! What I tell you about no coming in here?" The other caveman was frantically gibbering. 

"Kiiiiino! North wood burning!" 

"WHAT?!" Kino screamed and ran out, followed by Igoo. Crono groaned as he helped Marle to her feet. 

"Ay yai yai... never a dull moment here. Let's follow them." Frog nodded. 

"Very well. If these Reptites are as villainous as you have told me, they shall taste my blade!" 

Ioka village was in a frenzy. The cavemen were all running around, yelling unintelligibly at each other. Crono groaned, watching a pair whack each other over the heads with thick wooden clubs. As a guy with a long red beard walked up, Crono waved him over. 

"Hey, couldja tell us where Kino went?" The caveman stared blankly. Crono groaned again. 

"KI-NO. Where Kino?" The caveman wordlessly pointed towards a large forest to the northwest, which appeared to be on fire. Without another word, the three heroes charged off towards that forest. 

By the time they arrived, the fire was already out, but the damage had been done. Smoke was everywhere, and there didn't appear to be any structures left. At the middle of the village, an old man in a feathered headdress was talking to Ayla. As the three drew near, the old man suddenly started jumping around wildly, yelling at Ayla. 

"Ayla! This your fault!" He gestured around at the burning rubble. "You piss off Azala! Azala attack US!" Ayla looked at her feet. 

"Ayla feel bad..." The old man was not placated. 

"Now, all men taken captive! Your Kino too! Now what we do?!" Ayla looked back up, her eyes burning. 

"Ayla know way, but old man must help! Dactyl! Must give Dactyl!" The old man blinked, suddenly out of steam. 

"... You go to... Tyrano Lair? That suicide! Ayla want die?!" 

"Ayla die if run! Win and live. Lose and die. That Ayla's rule of life. Old man breathing, but dead on inside." The old man just stood there for a moment, not saying anything. Finally, he grunted affirmatively. 

"...Okay. You go to Dactyl Nest. Keeper will help you." Ayla nodded and ran off, howling. The three sweatdropped as she ran right past without even noticing them. 

"Be she always like that?" Frog asked. Marle shook her head. 

"Sometimes she's even worse." 

*** 

By querying the women and children in the ruins, they found out that the Dactyl Nest was on top of a single mountain to the north. They soon found the only mountain that was not connected to any others and started up it. Or, they would have, if a Winged Ape hadn't jumped in their way. 

"Gah! Outta our way!" Crono yelled. However, the Ape did not seem to interested, as it picked up a large boulder... no, wait... 

"A Shist!" Marle yelled as the Ape threw it at Crono. It hit him right on the head, then crawled away, wanting no further part in the mess. Frog looked at Marle. 

"Shall we try that combined magic attack again?" She smiled. 

"Why not? ICE WATER!" A bubble with ice crystals inside appeared and floated above the Ape. Crono vaguely recalled seeing them try it on Magus, but it didn't really work, as he recalled. The effect was better this time; when the bubble snapped, the Ape was buried in ice chunks. A moment later, they dissolved, but the Ape was a cold blue statue. The three walked past it, up the mountain. 

There were no more incidents until they found a ladder. As they climbed up it, a pair of yellow lizards with wings swooped down, screaming. A Lightning and another Ice Water knocked them out of the air. The next obstruction was three Shists. They just stood there, blocking the path. Crono growled. 

"Looks like more fighting..." Marle stopped him. 

"Hold on. I wanna try something." She stepped up to the Shists. 

"Uh... hi. Do ya mind getting out of the way? We really need to pass throigh here." The Shists just looked at her for a moment, then, silently, the center one got up and moved back, clearing the path. Marle grinned at the guys, who wore expressions of disbelief. 

"News flash, boys: Testosterone isn't the answer to everything." They glared at her, then went past, as silent as the Shists. 

A pair of Winged Apes and a single Shist stood in front of the ladder up to the top. Crono stepped up, trying Marle's tactic. 

"Hey, guys. How ya doing? Can ya get out of our way so we don't have to kill you?" In response to his marvelously eloquent and polite question, one of the Apes picked him up and threw him at the Shist. 

"Oof! Maybe it was my delivery?" The Shist growled, and the top of its boulderlike body disappeared, making it look like a crater. 

"A Pahoehoe!" Marle gasped. "Crono, look out! They toss lava!" 

"WHAT?" Crono rolled out of the way just in time, and the lava spilled onto the foot of the first Ape instead. Yelling, it punched the Pahoehoe into the ground... and promptly got its fist stuck plugging the crater. The Pahoehoe, enraged, began trying to pump lava. The Winged Ape began screaming and tried to wrench it off, but to no avail. The Pahoehoe was puffing up like a balloon as the other Ape tried pulling it off the first... 

"DUCK AND COVER!" Crono screamed as the three dived behind the bushes. A moment later, there was the sound of a huge explosion, and when they looked back, all that was there were three pillars of foul-smelling smoke. 

*** 

The Keeper had given Ayla the whistle and gone back into his cave, and Ayla was at the peak. She blew the bone whistle, and a huge pterodactyl flapped down. She heard a noise behind her,and whirled around to see the three heroes running up behind her! 

"Crono! Marle! ... Toad!" 

"That's FROG!" 

Crono stifled an argument by speaking up. "Ayla, we're coming with you!" Ayla shook her head. 

"No! Too dangerous! Maybe die!" 

Marle stood next to Crono. "We can do it, Ayla! We helped you before, and we'll help you again!" Frog walked forward as well. 

"Lass, I do not know ye well, but any friend of Crono's is a friend of mine! And this Azala sounds to be a most uncouth villain!" Ayla smiled. 

"Ayla have strong friends..." She frowned. "But there only three Dactyls. Not enough for all. And Dactyls cannot fly for long distances with two people..." Marle sighed. 

"I was getting tired anyways. You guys go ahead. I'll head back." She took out the white orb. "Hey, Spekkio! Send one over!" To everybody's amazement, a small Gate appeared in front of her. 

"What the-?" Crono yelled. Marle smiled. 

"Temporary Gates. Spekkio thought of it while you guys were in Magus's place. They only last 10 seconds, though, so I gotta go!" As she stepped in, it disappeared. Ayla was staring at the Gate, then at the two guys. Frog blinked. 

"Er... what be the problem, lass?" 

Ayla fainted. 

*** 

As they flew to Azala's Lair, Crono and Frog told Ayla about the adventure thus far. It was a good 2-day flight, even with the Dactyls' speed, so they had plenty of time to chat. They landed about a mile away to avoid detection, then hiked the rest of the way. It was a building like they had never seen before; a stone fortress of spires and balconies. The gate guards were a pair of easily dealt with Winged Apes. However, the front hall did not appear to have any doors leading in deeper. All there was were a pair of tyrannosaurus skulls. The one on the left had a closed mouth, while the right one's mouth was open. Ayla peered in. "Stairs lead down! To dungeons!" When they went down the stairs, they bumped right into a pair of brown-colored Reptite guards. 

"Great!" Crono groaned as he attacked. "I'll bet the brown ones are tougher!" Sure enough, his sword was not enough to finish it, and Frog had to help. While they double-teamed it, Ayla grabbed the other by the throat and proceeded to throttle it. 

Up ahead was a cell, with bars made out of dino ribs. A switch next to it opened them, and three Laruba men ran out, frightened out of their wits, and zoomed towards the exit. 

"And they didn't even bother to say thank you." Crono commented. Ayla ignored him and charged ahead, flattening another pair of guards and going down the next set of stairs. Crono and Frog caught her before she could alert the three guards clustered around another cell... with Kino in it! 

"So, you're the chief's mate, eh? Well, thanks for bringing, er, being the main course!" Crono jumped. 

"Chief's mate?!" Ayla shook her head wildly. 

"That not true!" She blushed. "Not yet..." The conversation alerted the guards, who charged. Frog suddenly grinned mischeviously. 

"I hath... an idea." Suddenly, a bubble formed around Ayla and lifted her off the ground. The cavewoman ranted and raged inside as it lifted her over the guards and popped, dropping her on all three and flattening them. 

"That wasn't nice, Frog." Crono grinned. 

"Aye, but it worked, did it not?" 

"I was talking about Ayla." 

"Oh." Ayla picked herself up, glared at Frog, then walked over to the cell. She tried pushing the button, but it appeared to be broken. Kino was banging on the bars as Ayla thought. She glanced at the bars, and noticed there was a large space between the top bar and the ceiling. 

"Kino! I climb up and pull you up too!" Frog scoffed. 

"Be serious, lass! It shall never work!" She glared at him again. 

"Shut up, Toad!" Without another word, she started climbing. When she reached the top, she extended her hand to Kino... and fell in herself. Frog simply said "Hmmph." 

"Kino sorry..." The caveman said sadly. Ayla grunted. 

"Kino, when we get out, you go!" 

"What about you?" Ayla's eyes lit up. 

"Me find Azala! PUT END TO THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Kino stared at her incredulously, then struck a brave pose. 

"Kino help!" She shook her head. 

"No! Kino need to get back to Ioka! If Ayla not come back, Chief needed!" She stifled his objections with a huge bear hug, then ran up to the bars. Frog rolled his eyes. 

"Now what is she-" He broke off as, with a horrible noise, Ayla exploded through the entire assembly, sending bone shards everywhere. Kino ran out, then turned back to her. 

"Kino understand. And show you something!" The three followed him up to the front hall, where he went over to the t-rex skull that was closed and began feeling the teeth. When he touched a certain tooth, the mouth opened wide. Kino grinned. 

"Kino see Reptite do it on way down!" Crono clapped him on the back. 

"Good job, Kino!" Suddenly, a familiar sound rang out, and through the window, they saw a pair of shaped soaring away... 

"Bleep! Those Larubans took two of the Dactyls!" Ayla groaned, then turned to Kino. 

"Follow! Bring Dactyls back here!" Kino nodded and ran out as the three ran up the stairs. 

The path forked left or right. "Left?" Crono asked, and they nodded. They stopped as they saw a Reptite with a Winged Ape on a leash. "Whoa! Wrong way!" 

Frog noticed a small button on the floor, and on a sudden thought, he pressed it. The three laughed as a hole opened beneath the two enemies and they fell down. The door led to an empty balcony, which led to a small room with a perfect sphere of stone sat. Crono noticed it had a hinge in the back. 

"Some kind of treasure chest?" He muttered as he tried to open it. A hole opened beneath them. "Crud!" They landed in the cell that had held the Larubans. Fortunately, the door was open. Unfortunately, the Ape and Reptite were there as well. 

"Who's laughing now?" The Reptite sneered. Crono grinned. 

"Actually..." One short scuffle and one climb back up later, the heroes took the right path at the crossroads, and found another Reptite with a leash. This time, though, it wasn't a Winged Ape. It was a Terrasaur. And another button, which sent them down a pit just like the first pair. The balcony outside, however, had several Reptites. Ayla grinned and snuck up behind them, then shouted "AAAAYYYYLLLAAAA!!!!" The Reptites shrieked and jumped... right over the edge of the balcony. Laughing, Ayla led the way into the next room, which was a mazelike setup with pits everywhere. They weaved their way through, but at one point, the room went dark, and when the lights came on, they were back at the start! 

"Trap spots." Crono muttered. "We'll have to watch out." They carefully made it to the end, where a Reptite was waiting with two brown creatures that resembled the Pahoehoes. 

"Volcanos. Just great." As they ran up, the Reptite kicked one of them, and it responded by spewing lava at the three. While Crono and Ayla screamed and tried to get it off, Frog quickly got rid of his and, on a sudden idea, kicked the other. Sure enough, the very stupid creature spewed lava over the Reptite, the other Volcano, and even itself, finishing the battle. After Crono and Ayla succeeded in shaking off all the lava, the three went up the staircase onto another balcony. 

*** 

"Eh?" Azala's meditation was interrupted by a pair of Dactyls shrieking past, followed by a third. "The apes!" Azala glared as he noticed that they were being ridden by the prisoners... which meant the original attackers were still here! He looked over the edge of his perch on top of the highest tower, and sure enough, there they were on the third-floor balcony. It was Ayla, that red-haired brat, and some kind of frogman. 

"Stupid apes! I think I'll have a little fun... TELEPORTATION!" In front of Azala, a Terrasaur appeared, roared in panic, then fell. 

"Mwa ha ha! I'd better go see how my pet is doing..." 

*** 

"INCOMING! SCATTER!" The three dashed out of the way as a Gigasaur crashed onto the ground. It appeared stunned, but quickly got back up... and took the Lightning full in the face. Ayla growled and charged, mauling it savagely. After it was dead, she turned to the two guys. 

"Cat Attack." Frog shook his head and pointed at the next door, which had a metal grille across it. 

"I do not think the lass can break that. We shall have to take the next door down." Inside the room, another closed skull confronted them, with two buttons on the floor. Crono shrugged and pressed one, and the skull opened, revealing a wall switch. When they pressed it, they heard the grate recede. 

Unbeknownst to them, however, it also alerted the Reptite in the room above, who immediately opened a cage and removed the Avian Rex. 

"Okay, Gak, you're gonna have to fly Groog down to the 3rd-floor balcony." The Rex squawked indignantly. "Oh, quiet. It's only 1 floor, and you don't even really have to fly, you just have to glide. Now get going." 

As the three were about to go in, they heard a strange sound, and turned around to see a truly amazing sight: An Avian Rex carrying a Gigasaur! As they watched, it shrieked and dropped the fatso in front of them, then flew away, shrieking at a Reptite on the floor above. The three recovered and took it out, then went in the door. 

A massive, gold, muscled dinosaur stood there, exercising. 

"NIZBEL?!" Ayla gasped. It stopped for a moment and looked at them. 

"Actually, I'm Nizbel II. Azala's in the back, if you want to see him." The three shrugged, then walked around. As they were about to head up, Nizbel II called out, "Hold it." They turned to see him stomping towards them. 

"This is a special room. The great Nizbel is buried in the floor of this room. And unless I'm mistaken, you are the mugs who killed my dear old dad!" 

"He's hostile! Ayla, get 'im!" Ayla attacked with a Cat Attack that completely failed to pierce Nizbel II's skin. He laughed. 

"You think those pathetic attacks can pierce my armored hide? Yeah, right! How did my dad lose to you?" Crono grinned, remembering. 

"Like this. LIGHTNING 2!" 

"GYYYYAH! That hurt like hell!" Indeed, Nizbel II's skin had paled, and looked thinner. Frog drew the Masamune and jumped high into the air. 

"LEAP SLASH!" He fell, sword-first, and his sword smashed into Nizbel II's back. The dino threw him off, and his skin looked a little thicker. 

"Stupid apes! Take this!" He flexed his muscles, and an earthquake slammed all three. Crono groaned. 

"Huh. He's stronger than his dad! The lightning decreases his defense, but it doesn't stun him!" Ayla growled, then ripped some chunks out of him with another Cat Attack. Afterwards, his skin was back to normal. Crono sent off another Lightning 2, but after absorbing it, Nizbel just grinned evilly. 

"Playtime is over! KYYYAHH!" The electrical energy poured out from his skin and washed over them. Crono crumpled, but Ayla and Frog glanced at each other before acting. Ayla blew a kiss, but Frog's tongue snatched the pink wave out of the air and pulled it in. He then started spinning around, and as he did, a large ring of the pink healing power washed over all three of them. Nizbel II was not impressed as he rammed them all with a bull-like charge. 

Frog turned to Crono. "Sir Crono, prepare a Lightning 2, but do not cast it!" Crono nodded. 

"Okie-dokie!" Frog leaped into the air with another Leap Slash. As he plummetted towards Nizbel II, he yelled, "NOW!" The sword ripped into Nizbel II, but this time, Frog left the sword in his back. The Lightning 2 changed into a series of thick white bolts that were all drawn to the sword, and coursed directly into his bloodstream. There was a blinding flash, and Frog caught the spinning Masamune out of the air. A black mark on the floor was all that remained of the mighty Nizbel II. 

*** 

Azala's head shot up as he felt the psychic stab that could mean only one thing. "Nizbel II is dead!" The Reptite leader quickly teleported up to his meditation perch. Sure enough, the apes were on the fourth-floor balcony! 

"Gyargh! Eat this! TELEPORTATION! A Terrasaur appeared and fell just like the one before had. Azala watched with growing dismay as they easily took it out. 

"Confound it! Try two, then! TELEPORTATION!" As the pair of dinos fell, Azala telported himself to his throne room. If the apes made it past, he'd have to be there. 

*** 

"Incoming, again! LIGHTNING 2!" The Terrasaurs were instantly stunned, and Frog and Ayla quickly took care of them. Crono grunted as he took a Mid Ether. 

"Ok, everybody, this is the top floor, and we're about to go into the only door. Doesn't take a genius to figure out Azala's in there. Everybody ready?" A pair of curt nods. "Okay, then. Let's go!" 

The Reptite leader looked up calmly as the three burst in. "Well, well. Look who's here. So this is it, then. The final showdown. Today, there will be a confrontation." Crono nodded. 

"You got that right. You're going down, Azala." 

"Only time can determine that, fool. Will it be us Reptites, or you silly apes who rule?" Ayla growled angrily. 

"Strong survive. Ayla strong. Ayla fight!" 

"Oh, of course, my dear. I knew that you'd fight from the moment I started flinging Terrasaurs at you. But I do not fight alone..." A huge, massive, roar rang through the room. Azala grinned evilly. 

"Hear that lovely voice? You'll soon become the best of friends! We're waiting for you!" Before anybody could stop him, Azala leaped out of his throne and vanished through a door behind it. The three ran after him... and collided in a three-way pile-up. After a few moments of recovery, they got back up and went through the door, this time succeeding. 

The door led out to a long bridge, extending to a solitary tower behind the lair. As the three ran down to it, they saw that the front of it on their level was a huge opening. A pair of baleful red eyes glared out from it, and Azala stood on the upper-right rim of the opening, facing away from them. 

"Red... star... FALL!" As he chanted, they saw a very noticable red star, showing even in the day. 

"Stain the earth... RED!" He turned around, and they saw on his face a kind of hopeless despair, mixed with an insane resolution. 

"The stars have foretold that the Reptites will fall this day. However, we shall not simply hand the earth over to you!" He blew a whistle, and roaring, a THING came out. It was a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex, bound in a metal harness. Azala laughed as he jumped onto it's right shoulder. 

"Mwa ha ha! With this Black Tyrano, I can finally exterminate you filthy apes before my fall!" 

*** 

Azala opened the fight with a scream of "PSYCHOKINESIS!" Ayla rose into the air and began moving around, performing wierd movements. Azala laughed as he threw her around wildly... 

"SPIRE!" The blade sunk into his head, and the electric blast blew through him. But when Frog removed his blade, Azala still lived! 

"Why you... TELEPORTATION!" A large boulder appeared and fell onto Crono, then tumbled off the edge. 

The Black Tyrano roared and spat a glob of fire at Frog, drawing Azala's attention to the knight. 

"And for you... TELEPATHY!" An orange circle of light appeared around Azala, and Frog pitched forward, asleep. 

"Gah!" Crono groaned. "Now we can't use Spire!" 

"Crono!" Ayla yelled. "Lightning on me!" 

"WHAT?!" 

"Just do!" Crono shrugged. 

"Your funeral! LIGHTNING!" As the bolt hit Ayla, she grinned and turned bright yellow, then charged at Azala. 

"What the-" Azala never finished the exclamation, as Ayla jumped at her hated enemy and mauled him, unleashing the electric power at the same time, and blew him, screaming and writhing, into the darkness of the opening. 

The Black Tyrano did not take the loss of its master well; blowing another gout of fire at Frog and waking the noble knight. 

"Ack! I'm on fire! WATER!" As Frog doused himself, the Tyrano's mottled black skin turned a pale grey, like Nizbel's had. 

"What's it doing? Why would it lower its defenses?" Crono wondered. 

"Mayhap it be storing energy?" 

"Yeah, that's gotta be it! Ayla, let's hit it with another Volt Bite!" The cavewoman took the Lightning, then went straight for the throat. Unfortunately, the Tyrano managed to twist its head, and Ayla hit it on the chest instead. Frog followed it up with a Leap Slash. And the Tyrano still waited. 

"Crud! Guys, I think you'd better get ready. I get the feeling this is gonna HURT!" And it did. The Black Tyrano opened its maw and began belching a huge, continuous river of fire that washed over them all. When it was over, they were all standing, but were badly hurt. 

"Gah! Sir Crono, Lady Ayla, use Volt Bite again! HEAL!" After the golden sparkles had cleared, the electric attack was used again, but the Tyrano managed to protect its throat a second time. Frog wound up for another Leap Slash, but the Tyrano grabbed him out of the air and began chewing. 

"FROG! Ayla, another one, quick!" The third Volt Bite forced the huge dino to drop its meal and concentrate on the attack. 

"Frog, here!" As Crono spilled a Mid Tonic over the amphibian, the damage from the Tyrano's mauling was healed. The enemy's skin, which had darkened after the super attack, paled again. 

"Dammit! Why won't it die?" Another Volt Bite and Leap Slash failed to stop it, and it prepared to unleash the attack again. As it started, Crono hit Ayla with one more Lightning, and the cavewoman leapt straight for the opening maw. She landed, then blew the electric power towards the throat, where the fireblast was emerging. 

Ayla barely managed to jump out as all the flesh on the Tyrano's head exploded, and the remains oozed down the skull like melted tar. The rest of the body teetered and fell, dropping four stories off the bridge to the ground below, leaving only the battered and broken Azala to crawl out, defeated at last. 

*** 

"No... it can't be... can the heavens truly have sided with the apes?" Crono bent down next to the Reptite. 

"Azala, tell us. What did you do?" 

"The most foolish thing possible... I summoned death from above. It shall scour the plains with fire, destroying and consuming. Then, the burned-out plains will slowly freeze, ushering in a long, cruel, ice age...' He began laughing bitterly. "Mwa ha ha... what a treat! You'll wish you had gone with us!" 

Ayla looked at her feet. "Lavos..." Crono jumped. 

"L... Lavos?!" Ayla nodded. 

"La mean fire... Vos mean big..." She looked at the red star, which had grown much larger. Azala followed her gaze and slowly nodded. 

"Yes... that is it. But... you will survive. The heavens have told me so." He slowly looked at them all, and his eyes widened. 

"Yes... you shall do more than survive... now, I can see things that I could never before... I truly am a fool..." Crono blinked. 

"You're not the first person we've met who's said something like that. What does it mean?!" 

Azala's reply was drowned out by the rushing sound of Dactyl wings. As the sky began flashing a brilliant red, the three steeds of the air landed, Kino on the lead. 

"Ayla!" Ayla turned to Kino. 

"Kino! You bring Dactyl for us!" Crono and Frog hopped on a dactyl each. Ayla jumped on the same one that Kino had come on, and the caveman was looking down at the fallen Azala. 

"Kino!" As soon as Ayla yelled, Kino jumped back on the Dactyl. Ayla jumped off. 

"NOW what?" Crono moaned, facepalming. "We're dead if we don't hurry up!" Ayla ran over to Azala. 

"Azala! Come with! Dactyl can carry two for short lengths!" Azala looked at her as if she had just asked him to eat Terrasaur dung. 

"Absolutely not! The heavens have fortold that the Reptites shall end this day, and I will NOT abandon my people! We fought well. Remember us for that, Ayla!" 

"Azala... we remember Reptites..." She jumped back on her Dactyl, and Azala called to them all. 

"The future..." 

"What about the future?" Crono yelled back. 

"We... have no future. The Reptites leave this planet to you humans. I charge YOU with the task of keeping it safe." Crono nodded, and the dactyls flew away, leaving Azala alone. The fallen Reptite lord looked up to the sky. 

"Now I know why the heavens were partially clouded before. This knowledge is too dangerous for anybody who is going to live. All I can do now is hope..." As Azala looked at the star, descending now at an incredible rate, he reflected on his life. Now it blotted out the entire sky, and Azala only wished for a swift end. 

And Lavos gave it to him. 

*** 

From the depths of space, it fell, seeking death and destruction. Spiraling madly, it sought out the smell of what it needed. For a moment, it seemed it would miss Earth... but no, it feels Azala's summons and makes a left turn, and heads straight for the planet. Down it goes, heading for the place of the signal: The Tyrano Lair. The three specks flying away are insigificent. All that matters is contact. The impact is made, driving the Tyrano lair into the ground, leaving only a crater. But it's not far enough. It begins to burrow... 

*** 

The three heroes stood, openmouthed, staring at the huge crater that was all that remained of the Tyrano Lair. Frog was the first to speak. 

"Through no fault of Magus does Lavos live! It fell from the sky in ancient times!" Ayla was next to speak. 

"Lavos... BIG! We go kill!" She took off. 

Crono yelled after her, "HEY, WAIT!" but she ignored him. Frog looked at him. 

"Left unscathed, it will burrow deep within the earth. Best to defeat it now, while it is weakest!" Frog went on as well. Crono groaned. 

"Hey, hold it! Wait! Grrr..." Grumpily, he gave chase. 

The three found a single door-sized gap in the wall, and went in to find a small room. Lavos was not there, but a familiar blue orb was... 

"A gate?!" Crono yelped. Ayla went over and sniffed it. 

"Lavos very fast! Burrow deep already!" Frog looked at the Gate, thinking. 

"Mayhap Lavos is the cause of this warp? The one in Magus's Castle was immense... might Lavos be the source of all Gates?" Crono shook his head. 

"No way. Remember, there's one in the Mystic Mountains? Lavos is just one source of Gates. There have to be others." Ayla sighed. 

"Well, we go in here?" Crono nodded slowly. 

"Why not? We got nothing else to do..." 


	10. Chapter 9: You Sure This Isn't Atlantis?

**__**

Chapter 9: You Sure This Isn't Atlantis? 

****

APRIL 9, 1200 BC 

No matter how many times they went through a gate, they never got anything remotely resembling what they expected from a new one. 

"Cold here." Crono muttered as they looked out of the little cave into the raging blizzard outside. Ayla nodded, then suddenly howled and started writhing around. Crono and Frog immediately ran over, but by the time they got there, she was still. 

"Ayla head hurt bad... feel like brain on fire..." Frog suddenly howled and fell to his knees. 

"Argh! What is this?" Crono blinked, then felt the same thing, like somebody had set off a grenade inside his head. After a few minutes, it cleared up, and from Frog and Ayla's ceasing to scream, he guessed the same thing had happened. Frog raised his arms. 

"HEAL!" A flood of gold sparkles covered every part of their bodies, burying them in healing magic. Frog blinked. 

"I doth not remember it being THAT strong..." Ayla got up. 

"Ayla... feel wierd..." 

"Well, I guess you two should go to the End Of Time to recover. I'll make the call." Crono pulled out the orb and looked in, seeing Lucca. She grinned. 

"About time! I've been here for ages!" Crono suddenly had an idea. 

"Hey Lucca, can you go ask Spekkio if he has any idea what's wrong with Ayla?" The scientest nodded, and her face left the orb. A few moments later, she returned. 

"He says, and I quote, 'You idiot! There's a contiunous Zealian Magical field, and she came before Zealian Magic existed!' I'm guessing what that means is there's a huge aura of magic over the entire area. That would also explain why Frog's Heal is stronger." Crono nodded slowly. 

"Okay. I think I get it. Anyways, Frog and Ayla are coming in. Get Robo, willya?" Lucca nodded and ran off again, returning with the robot. Frog and Ayla disappeared, and the two from the End Of Time came out... and immediately suffered the same effect. When they had finished, Robo performed a self-analysis. 

"It appears... I have a new technique. A stronger form of my Cure Beam. Most interesting." Lucca raised an eyebrow as she looked out of the cave. 

"Doesn't look much like a magical place. Good thing I put my time to good use." 

"Oh? What did you do, invent a flying toaster?" Lucca rolled her eyes. 

"Ha ha, very funny. Actually, I cooked up a way to produce short-range explosives quickly. It uses my Fire magic. The more powerful ones still take too long to be produced, however. And maybe I'll have a new technique now like Robo!" Robo beeped. 

"This conversation is facinating. However, I must suggest we get on our way." The blizzard wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, but it did obscure all sight. The three stumbled through for what seemed like days, but was in fact only hours, until Crono saw a flash of purple light and headed towards it. Eventually, they found a small white dome with four glowing purple circles placed evenly around it and a fifth on the roof. Inside, it was completely insulated from the cold. There was a large tier in the middle, with a circular purple design. 

"Okay. We sleep here, then investigate that thing after resting." Without waiting for a response, Crono immediately conked out. 

*** 

He was rudely awakened some time later by a faceful of snow. 

"Ack!" Sputtering, he wiped it off and glared at his two companions. Robo was laughing again, while Lucca was actually rolling on the floor. Grinning, Crono grabbed a double handful of snow from outside and dropped it on her head. 

"Gah!" 

When she had cleaned off, the three stepped onto the purple circle, which immediately began glowing and shot up a beam of light up through the roof. Their vision turned white... 

"WHOA!" Lucca summed it all up in that one word. Even Robo was doing his best to jawdrop at the sight before them. They were standing on a similar pedestal, without the building. It was in the middle of a beautiful grassy meadow... on a floating island. Crono ran over to the edge and peered over, seeing the clouds around him and, far below, the ice-covered mainland. About a half-day's walk away, they saw a white city built of the same marble as the pedestal. Far away, they saw a much larger second island with a large mountain, but they could not make out any details. Robo was the first to speak. 

"I... am recieving an unusual sensation. I believe it is the emotion classified as... wonder." Lucca slowly nodded. 

"Yeah... this place is beautiful." 

"This explains that 'magical aura'," Crono added. "Can you imagine the kind of power it would take to keep this place up?" 

"A kingdom of magic..." Lucca murmured softly. She looked over at the city. "I can't wait to see what that's like! Let's go!" 

As they walked, Crono started to chuckle. 

"What's so funny?" Lucca asked. 

"We slept down in that building. And yet, this place was just a step away. It's just kinda funny, is all." 

"Yeah..." 

*** 

The man at the front desk wore a heavy blue robe and hat, with an orange scarf. He blinked as his eyes scanned the three. 

"Welcome to Enhasa, strangers! Your clothes are strange. Are you travelers from a far off land?" Crono decided that was the best course. 

"Yes. We're... explorers from the kingdom of Guardia. We had no idea that this place existed..." The man stared. 

"You haven't heard of the magic kingdom of Zeal? Impossible!" 

"Well, you hadn't heard of us either, so..." Lucca prompted. The man chewed on this for a moment, then seemed to accept it. 

"Hmm... that makes sense. Well, feel free to do whatever you will. Enhasa is a very relaxed city. Here, we attempt to interpret the prophecies that come from dreams." Crono scoffed. 

"Prophecies? Gimme a break." _But wait, hold it. Azala could see the future, couldn't he? And Melchior and the Old Man were both talking about something like that._

"Oh, I assure you, we are quite accurate!" The man protested. "We have been at this for thirteen hundred years, since the founding of the Kingdom, and we have been accurate 97% of the time!" 

"What about that other 3%?" Lucca asked skeptically. The man looked embarrassed. 

"Ah... occasionally one of us will recieve a message that is so ludicrous that it is obviously false. For example, one lady dreamed that our Queen would destroy the world! Isn't that ridiculous?" He laughed. Crono nodded. 

"Of course. I would react similarly if somebody told me King Guardia was going to do that." The man smiled. 

"Well, go ahead. If you need rest, go to the northwest corner." 

They wandered to the right, and stared at what they found: It was Masa! Or was it Mune? No, it was neither, they realized; this creature was of the same species, but it was taller, and had green eyes. As they grew close, it turned and grinned before speaking. 

"This is the magical kingdom of Zeal, where dreams can come true... but at what price?" Quickly, she (they could tell her gender by her voice) spun around quickly and disappeared. 

"That sounded ominous." Crono commented. "Perhaps we should keep our eyes open." As they walked north, they passed many people in beds, murmuring in their sleep. Beside each one, there was another person sitting and writing, apparently recording the words. After a while, they found the imp again. She grinned as she saw them. 

"Am I a butterfly dreaming I'm a man, or am I a bowling ball dreaming I'm a plate of sashimi? Never assume what you see and feel is real!" She disappeared again. Lucca adjusted her glasses. 

"... Is it just me, or was that really wierd?" 

"Wasn't you." Crono grunted. Robo merely nodded. They went across to the other end of town and started chatting with the people. One old man waved them over to a window with binoculars. They looked in and saw a blue pyramid of light on a tiny island by itself. The man then showed them another pair, and they saw a strange white and yellow structure. 

"The first one is the Elemental Palace, where the Gurus dwell," the man informed them. "The second is the Sun Palace, where a rare treasure is rumored to be guarded by an immortal guardian. Interesting, eh?" 

Eventually, the three saw the imp again. As they walked up a staircase, though, a 10-year-old boy blocked their path. 

"Hey, kid, mind getting outta our way?" Crono asked. The kid just stared at him for a moment before speaking. 

"The black wind howls..." Without another word, he darted past them, followed by a purple cat. 

"The black wind howls?" Crono rubbed his head. "I know I've heard that before..." Lucca rolled her eyes. 

"Well, I haven't. Sounds like a load of hogwash." 

"Beware..." They turned to see the boy staring at them again. Robo spoke first. 

"Beware... what?" The boy didn't speak for several moments. 

"One among you... will soon perish..." He spun and dashed through the crowds like his feet were on fire, and by the time they had recovered from the shock, he was gone. 

"What the hell was THAT all about?" Crono said, worried. "I don't plan to die anytime soon, and neither do you guys, right?" Robo and Lucca both nodded. "Okay, then! We forget that ever happened!" But as they left, Crono still felt uneasy... 

The imp was gone by now, so the three decided now would be a good time to leave Enhasa and explore some more. The man at the desk was sleeping. As they walked out, Crono noticed a strange red book. 

"Hm... 'Book Of Fire' by Belthasar, eh?" Crono shrugged, then flipped it open. The book immediately burst into flame. 

"WHOA! Uh, I didn't do it! Nobody saw me do it! You can't prove anything! ... I'm outta here!" He ran for it without realizing that nobody was paying attention to him. 

*** 

"That was real smooth, Crono." 

"Shaddup." 

It took the rest of the day to get to the next teleporter, and they decided to sleep the night in the fields next to it. In the morning, they were awakened by the sound of the teleporter activating. Crono opened his eyes to see the little boy who had freaked them out in Enhasa disappear. 

"Hold on! Wait! Hey, wake up you two!" The three quickly followed the boy... into another blizzard. 

"Bah!" Lucca commented. "He's gone." 

"I detect a single lifeform moving south." Robo said. Crono smiled. 

"That's our Robo! Robo, do you think you can follow him, and remember the path?" 

"...Affirmative." 

"Okay! Lead the way, Robo!" 

Even with Robo's guidance, it took another full day to get to the Skyport. When they went on it, they discovered they were on a place that made the Enhasa isle look like a garden. This larger island was dominated by a large brown mountain. A waterfall ran down the side into a pair of lakes. Another city was about a day's hike away. Lucca yawned and flopped onto the grass. 

"I assume we'll be sleeping here, then heading there in the morning, Crono? ...Crono? Aya, asleep already..." 

In the morning, Crono woke up bright and early. Unlike Lucca, who was apparently close to a coma. 

"Hmm... how to wake her up..." He grinned. "Oh, I know... Hey, Robo, help me push..." Together, they successfully managed to roll Lucca into the lake. 

"ACK! Blub! Sploosh!" Gasping and sputtering, the rudely awakened scientest made her way to shore, where she immediately set Crono's pants on fire, forcing him to jump in the lake as well. 

A day's hike took them to the next city. The man at the entrance looked completely identical to the one in Enhasa. 

"Welcome, travelers! This is Kajar, where we study magic." Crono grinned. 

"Excellent. May we look around?" 

"Of course." Unlike the people of Enhasa, the Kajar inhabitants seemed very busy, hunched over strange and bizarre apparatus. As they went past one area, they heard a man and woman idly chatting. 

"We've been seeing a lot of Janus lately, haven't we? He's so sullen these days, moping around all the time..." 

"His only friend, besides his sister, is that stupid cat. I don't think he even likes his mother... what tempest rages in his head?" 

"Do you think this 'Janus' might be that brat from earlier?" Crono asked his comrades. 

"Yeah, I think so." 

"There is a high probability." 

Crono shrugged and they went on into a room where many people were clustered around one big table, comparing notes as they worked on apparatus. One man was cursing under his breath as he fiddled with his thing. 

"Excuse me sir, but could you tell us what's wrong?" The man turned to Crono. 

"I'm missing an important part, that's what's wrong! One of those stupid Nu must have done it... the buggers love pranks..." Over in the back, a spherical blue creature with long, thin arms and a green growth on its head was staring intently at the books, ignoring everything. To its left, another one was sleeping contently. Crono decided to try the second. 

"Hey, buddy. Do ya know anything about any missing parts?" The Nu just moaned in its sleep, refusing to wake. 

"Zzz... water summons wind... wind makes fire dance... zzz..." Lucca groaned. 

"We won't get anything useful from him. Robo's trying the other." At that moment, the robot walked up, shaking his head. 

"He has ignored everything. Let us go." 

Later, they were chatting with a woman near a large pile of books. Crono glanced at one; _Book Of Water by Belthasar_. The woman saw his gaze and smiled. 

"Belthasar... that old fellow was a little strange, but what do you expect from a Guru? They say he hid secret rooms in Enhasa and Kajar..." Crono thought back and remembered the Book Of Fire in Enhasa. 

"Hey, has anybody seen a Book Of Wind or Fire around here?" Lucca thought for a moment, then nodded. 

"Yeah... a Book Of Wind was near those two people talking about Janus, I think." The woman spoke up next. 

"I think the shopkeeper in the center of town has a Book Of Fire..." Suddenly, a ringing sound came from a strange machine. The woman lifted up a banana-shaped portion and put it to her ear and mouth. 

"Yes... yes? Oh, my! ...Very well." She put it back down. "So sorry, travelers, but I must go now. I have been summoned to the palace." As she left, Crono flipped open the Book Of Water and a miniature fountain started gushing from it. Lucca stared. 

"Crono, what the hell did you do?!" 

"Never mind that, show me the Book Of Wind." That one turned out to contain a small tornado. Crono hurried to the center of Kajar, where a sleeping Nu sat behind a counter. The Book Of Fire sat on the counter, and as soon as Crono opened it, a large bookcase nearby slid down into the floor, revealing a door. 

"That's very nice, Crono, but how'd you know it?" Lucca asked. Crono grinned. 

"What that sleeping Nu said... plus the rumor of secret rooms... I put two and two together. Let's see what's in here." 

The small room only had two features: A small table with a single book in the back corner, and a Poyozo Doll sitting on the rug in the center of the room. 

"A Poyozo Doll here...?" Crono muttered as he walked over to inspect it. The moment he touched it, though, it dissolved, leaving a perfect Onyx jewel. 

"What the-?!" He shrugged and pocketed it. Lucca and Robo were reading the book in back. As he walked over, the girl looked up. 

"This is fascinating, Crono! It's a volume of history! Listen: 'In ancient times, a rare, red rock symbolized power. Over time, this rock became the symbol of the royal family...' I could read this for ages!" 

Crono yawned. "Well, I think we should leave it here. But we do need to rest, so howzabout we spend the night in here and get going in the morning?" 

"Okay!" 

*** 

In the morning, their first stop was the strange dock to the west of Kajar. As they grew near, they saw that a large blue machine resembling a bird was docked. A pair of men in matching purple suits and wearing masks blocked the way. 

"Who're you?" As Crono and co. were about to answer, another voice came from behind them. 

"How's the Blackbird?" A muscular man, with long brown hair and matching cloak, wearing a blue jumpsuit. He blinked as he saw them, then started laughing. 

"You? You three are the evildoers the Prophet spoke of? Ha! I didn't think it would be THIS easy to find you!" Crono glared. He didn't like this guy. 

"You wanna fight, creep?" The man pondered, then shook his head. 

"No, my assignment was simply to find you, not bring you in. I'd better report to the Queen!" He left. The guards rolled their eyes. 

"That's Dalton, the Queen's Aide. He has a big head." The three nodded. The guards seemed more friendly now. The other guard gestured behind him at the huge machine. 

"This is the Blackbird. I'll bet you never guessed something that big could fly, did you?" 

"That thing can FLY?!" Crono exclaimed. The guard nodded. 

"Oh, yes! It was built by Belthasar, the Guru of Reason! He's a genius!" 

"So I see...." Lucca murmured. "I would like to meet this Belthasar..." 

Once they left the docks, there was only one way to go; the mountain. The hiked up it all day, occasionally warping using shining golden pillars in a cave. As dusk settled, they finally entered the imposing white palace at the peak. 

*** 

"Is it just me, or is the atmosphere different in here?" Lucca whispered. 

"Again, it ain't you." Crono muttered back. Where Enhasa and Zeal had been vibrant and full of life, this place was deathly calm. The people worked silently and tirelessly. As the three walked forward down the mainway, they suddenly found the way blocked by two yellow imps; one blue-eyed, the other violet... 

"I wanna be the wind, Masa!" "Oh, you will some day, Mune." The three did a collective jawdrop (Which was neat trick for Robo, since he didn't have a mouth). It was Masa and Mune! The imps continued their coversation, ignoring them. 

"Big sister Doreen's at Enhasa again." "I know. That's because she likes dreams." "I like the wind better! Woosh!" The imps obviously weren't moving, so the three decided to find another way around. If they had stayed a moment longer, they would have heard Mune say something very interesting; 

"I wonder how old man Melchior is doing. Humans can be so odd..." 

After a few minutes, Lucca found an overhang that went across the entire huge room. As they walked across it, they found a Nu polishing the rail. Without turning around, it spoke to them. 

"Um... could I ask you a favor?" Crono shrugged. 

"Sure. What is it?" 

"Could you... scratch my back?" Crono saw the creature's arm weren't long enough to get around its spherical body, shrugged and complied. 

"Ooo... uhh..." As he touched a specific spot, it jumped five feet in the air. 

"Yow! Thank you!" 

_Hmm_, Crono thought as they walked away. _I'll have to remember that spot. It could come in handy._

After a few more minutes, they got to the back of the room, where three doors stood, a Nu sleeping next to each. Crono shrugged and placed his sword on the ground, then spun it. It ended up pointing to the rightmost door. The door led to a small y-shape, but more important was Janus walking through the right one. 

"Should we follow him?" Robo whispered. Crono nodded. 

"Yeah. I wanna find out what the hell he meant." 

However, it seemed Janus was otherwise occupied; when they went in, they saw him walking up to a beautiful young lady in a purple robe with blue hair. 

"Schala..." The young woman turned calmly to face him. 

"Janus, is something wrong?" The boy nodded slowly. 

"The black wind..." Schala bit her lip. 

"You can feel it too? I wasn't sure. Don't worry, it'll be all right..." She held out something to him, and he took it curiously. 

"What's this, Schala?" 

"It's a kind of amulet. If something happens, it'll protect you." She sighed. "I wish we could be together always, little brother... but mother has other plans..." Janus looked up at her grimly. 

"Schala, mother's dead..." She gasped. 

"Janus! Mother's fine!" He shook his head stubbornly. 

"That's not mother anymore! It looks like her, but inside, she's changed... our mother is gone..." Schala nodded slowly. 

"I know..." Suddenly, a woman walked in. It was the woman who had shown them the Book Of Water at Kajar. 

"Miss Schala, the queen desires your prescence immediately." Schala sighed. 

"Of course." She walked forward and saw the trio. Crono winced inwardly. _We're in for it now_... But Schala did not seem mad. Her face stayed calm and kind. 

"Oh, who might you be?" The lady turned. 

"Miss Schala, please. If we take long, the Queen will punish me." 

"Yes, we can't let that happen. I'm sorry, strangers, but I cannot talk with you now." The two exited, leaving a severely ticked-looking Janus staring at them for a moment before turning to face the wall. Lucca walked up. 

"Hey, kid, what did you-" 

"Go away." 

"But we just want to-" 

"Go away." She sighed. Janus wasn't talking, apparently. She turned to the little purple cat below, but it just hissed at her. Janus didn't turn. 

"Don't bother. Alfador doesn't like anybody except me and Schala." Lucca just turned back to her friends, and all three left. 

Back in the main room, they saw Schala going into the center door and followed. This led to a main hall, and Schala was at the end, facing a strange black door with a silver emblem on it. They saw her hold up a pendant to the door, and Crono jumped. It looked just like Marle's! Well, not just; Schala's was glowing strangely. But besides that, it was completely identical. For some reason, Crono had a very clear memory of Marle's pendant. 

As she held it to the seal, the seal began glowing, followed by the rest of the door. Suddely, the entire thing vanished, and Schala walked through. As soon as she had gone, the door reappeared. Robo beeped. 

"I suggest you exchange me for Marle. Her pendant may have a similar function." A moment later, the exchange was made, and the princess smiled. 

"I've been watching as usual. Let's try!" She held up the pendant, but there was no response. She pouted. 

"Ah, poo! Crono, you try!" He nodded and took the pendant, but the door did not respond to him any more than it did for Marle. That was when Marle got her introduction to the magical field. Somewhat dispirited, they headed back out and entered the leftmost door. It led to a spherical room with a strange, mutated statue in the center. Red light shown out from it, and many Zealans gathered around it. One man walked over as they entered. 

"This is the hall of the Mammon Machine. It is our shrine to our god, the great and mighty Lavos!" 

"WHAT?!" A collective jawdrop. The man blinked. 

"Yes, our god is the great Lavos! All magic descends from him!" The man frowned as he saw the pendant. "Hm... that pendant almost looks like Schala's, but there's no glow." He looked at the machine. "Schala often comes here and lays her pendant on the altar. Why don't you try it?" Crono was just starting to get his voice back. 

"This... THING... links you to Lavos?" The man nodded. 

"Yes! It is made completely from the same sacred red rock that Schala's Pendant and the Gurus's weapons are!" 

"That's a LOT of Dreamstone..." Lucca commented as she looked up at the machine. The man left, and Crono turned to the girls. 

"I think we have a problem..." They nodded, and Lucca frowned, thinking. 

"If all magic comes from Lavos, then we have a problem. We're gonna need to have a loooong talk with Spekkio..." The girls nodded, and Marle looked at the pendant, which Crono still held. 

"Try putting that on the altar, Crono!" The teen slowly placed it there, then watched as a single ray of red light fired from the Machine into the pendant, which began glowing strangely. He nodded. 

"Looks good. Let's try that door again!" 

Sure enough, this time the door responded like it did for Schala. As Crono turned to give the pendant back to Marle, she shook her head. 

"No, you keep it. I know it'll be safe with you..." Crono nodded slowly and slipped it back sround his neck, and they went in. 

The room was dominated by a huge throne. On it, a middle-aged woman sat. Blue-haired and orange-dressed, her face held an almost inhuman cruelty. To the right of the throne were Dalton and Schala. To the left was a tall man completely shrouded by a purple robe and hood. As they walked in, he turned and jumped. 

"Your majesty! These are the evildoers I spoke of!" 

"What?!" Crono yelled. The Queen sneered down. 

"So, the Prophet was correct! You dare to try and bring ruin to Zeal? Dalton, dispose of them!" The brown-haired man snickered nastily. 

"Of course, your majesty! By your leave... GOLEM!" A black hole appeared in the center of the room, and from it emerged a monstrosity. The conular Golem had no legs, and the lower half of its body held a disgusting, slobbering mouth filled with fangs. Just above it, two tiny eyes glared miliciously, and spindly arms hung from the sides. Crono groaned. 

"Figures we'd have to fight. LIGHTNING!" 

The Golem squealed as the bolt hit, but then it said something odd: "Copying Lightning..." 

"Huh?" 

"LIGHTNING 2!" The three all gasped as Golem blasted them all with the powerful attack. Lucca growled angrily as she got back up. 

"Why you little... FIRE!" 

"Copying fire..." 

"Oh, crap!" 

"FIRE 2!" The three were blown off their feet this time. Marle slowly rose. 

"Blast you... ICE!" 

"Copying Ice..." 

"Oh, RATS!" 

"ICE 2!" The last blow was too much, and the three collapsed. Marle and Lucca were out like lights, but Crono stayed up long enough to see the Queen clapping and laughing. 

"Excellent work, Dalton! It's about time we moved the Mammon Machine, so why don't we throw them in that stasis field? Mwa ha ha ha ha..." 

*** 

Schala and Janus watched the three strangers float rythmically in the stasis field. After a few minutes, Janus broke the silence. 

"Hmph. Idiots. What are you going to do, Schala?" 

"I'm going to release them. I'm getting this feeling... I think they're the only ones who can save the Gurus." She pressed her hands to the altar, and the three floated to the floor, regaining consciousness. Schala helped them to their feet, one by one. 

"Quickly! You must escape before my mother returns!" She paused for a moment, then went on. "And if you can... please, try to find the Gurus!" 

"I'm afraid I can't allow that..." Everybody looked at the door as the Prophet walked in. "You've caused far too much trouble. You'll have to just... disappear!" Schala's eyes went wide, and she stepped between the Prophet and the three. 

"No, you can't!" Surprisingly, Janus also blocked the way. 

"Get lost, you creep!" Even little Alfador meowed angrily. The Prophet seemed unusualy fazed. 

"...Okay, I'll let them live. But in return, you WILL cooperate, Schala!" 

"A... all right..." 

"Good. Now, show me how you came to this land." 

It took several more days to get back to the cave with the Gate. Eventually, they made it, and the Prophet spent a few minutes gazing intently at the Gate before speaking. 

"So, this is how you came here? Very well! Schala, after they go in, you will seal this portal." She gasped, outraged. 

"No! I won't!" 

"Do it! Their lives are at stake!" The Prophet snapped. She sighed. 

"...All right..." Crono opened the Gate, and they stepped through. When the Gate closed, Schala stepped up to it and began chanting. A red pyramid of light covered the Gate. 

"Forgive me..." 

****

APRIL 14, 65000000 BC 

As soon as they exited the Gate at the Tyrano Lair, it was sealed with the same pyramid of red light. Crono groaned and shook his head. 

"Well, we're not going back THERE in any hurry. Now what? Any ideas?" Marle frowned. 

"Haven't we seen that seal before? On that door in the future?" Lucca suddenly jumped. 

"And those wierd black boxes! They have that seal too!" Crono grinned. 

"Okay! We search all these boxes and doors, and see if we can find some artifacts from Zeal! To the Denadoro Mountains, ho!" 

A day later, they arrived back at Ioka Village, where they found that Kino had taken the Larubans in. After spending the night, back into the Gate they went. 

****

APRIL 15, 0000 XD 

"Hey, kid!" Spekkio called as they walked in. Frog, Robo and Ayla were on the couch, watching some show involving giant lizards with really long necks and tails. Every so often, Ayla would point at the screen and burst out laughing. 

"Hey, Spekkio." Crono responded. "I assume you managed to get Ayla's little problem figured out?" Spekkio nodded. 

"Yeah. Turns out now she can use just a smidge of Mysticism. Show 'em, Ayla." Ayla grinned, then turned to Spekkio and blew him a kiss. A moment later, the beer mug in his hand flew over to Ayla, who grabbed it and chugged it happily. 

"Goddammit, I didn't mean on ME!" Spekkio grumbled for a moment, then formed another beer mug. He took a sip and immediately spit comically. 

"What the HELL is this?!" Lucca sniffed it, then wrinkled her nose. 

"It appears to be V-8 mixed with turpentine." Spekkio cursed again and threw the mug off the edge into the void. The scientest raised an eyebrow. 

"Isn't that kinda dangerous?" Spekkio shrugged. 

"Probly not. Worst case, some bum gets a mug of slop to the head mysteriously. You want me to take a look at you three?" 

"Please." Crono said. Spekkio nodded, then closed his eyes, concentrating. It was several moments before he opened them again. 

"Blondie can speed people up, geeky can increase defense, and you can revive unconscious people, kid. They'll still be pretty out of it when they wake up, though. Now siddown and shaddup, this documentary's almost over and we're coming up on Cowboy Bebop!" 

****

APRIL 16, 600 AD

"So, there's one in the inn here, Crono?" Marle asked as they walked into Truce. 

"Yup. Saw it in 1000 AD when I was a brat, and sure enough, it was here last time I came." Lucca scoffed. 

"When you WERE a brat?" 

"Shaddup." 

When they arrived at the Inn, they immediately went up and found it. Crono touched the pendant to the box, and it turned blue. A melodious voice spoke from it: 

"Do you wish to open the package?" 

Before he could say yes, Lucca suddenly yelled, "No!" 

The box faded back to black, and the voice spoke again: "Power-Up Sequence initiated." Crono looked at her, irked. 

"Okay. How'd you know?" She grinned. 

"What would you do if I told you I see the future?" 

"I'd say you were full of-" 

"Okay! Okay! Actually, I didn't. It just hit me; we should open them in 1000 AD first, then come back here and open them again! Double prizes!" Marle blinked. 

"Won't that cause some paradox or something?" 

"Worst comes to worst, we're out the 1000 AD ones. However, with this power-up thing, I think we should go and start it on all the boxes." 

After pooling their brains, they came up with a total of five more to visit. First, they went down to Porre and activated the two there. Next was the Magic Cave; but this one just opened without asking. Inside was a strange ring with an engraving of a shield. As it turned out, the ring increased a person's magic defense. The Wall Ring eventually went to Marle. Next stop was Guardia Forest, where they found another one that opened instantly, with another ring inside. This one increased a person's speed. They sent it back to Robo. Finally, inside Guardia Castle they found the last one and activated it before going back. It was night, so they didn't see the King and Queen. Perhaps they could have a meeting next time. 

****

APRIL 20, 1000 AD 

This time, when they visited the Inn, they ended up with a suit of glowing blue armor. However, their second trip to Guardia Forest proved fruitless; the way to the little clearing with the Gate was blocked off. 

"Probably to keep us from escaping." Crono snorted. Marle groaned, then held up a hand. 

"Look, guys, maybe I should go into the castle alone. You two will probably be ordered shot on sight." Lucca bit her lip, then slowly nodded. 

"Yeah, I guess you're right... but what if the king doesn't let you leave?" Crono smiled evilly. 

"We wait 'til dark, then we climb up to her room and Lucca uses her Napalm to blow a hole through the wall!" 

"Why, oh why do these plans always end with explosive property damage to my home?" Marle moaned. 

*** 

"Princess!" The two guards yelled as she walked in. A moment later, the Chancellor came running up. 

"Princess Nadia, you have returned!" She frowned darkly. 

"Chancellor, I'm not in the mood for..." 

"Haven't you heard?! The king has put Crono's sentence on hold!" Marle's eyes went wide, and she broke into a wide smile. 

"So, he does care for me after all!" The Chancellor shook his head sadly. 

"My dear, I wish it could be so... but the truth is, he is only doing it to keep the kingdom quiet... it's all he really cares about..." Marle blinked. 

"What? That's not true!" He covered his eyes. 

"I'm sorry, princess, but it is. Your father only has eyes for Guardia... even when your mother, Queen Aliza, died, he could not come to her side... said he had some work to do..." As he talked, Marle's expression grew more and more angry. The chancellor continued on, seemingly not noticing. 

"Queen Aliza passed away in sorrow... it's almost as if he indirectly killed her... what a shame..." 

"FATHEEEEER!!!" Marle ran past the Chancellor, and into the throne room. As she passed, the Chancellor smiled. 

King Guardia looked up, surprised, as his daughter ran in. 

"Nadia! You have returned! I have news regarding your friend Cro-" 

"The chancellor already told me!" She spat. "What's best for the kingdom, right?" The king stared at her. 

"What? What are you talking about? I put his sentence on hold because he was you friend!" 

"Yeah, right! You don't give a damn about anything except your kingdom!" The King's face turned livid. 

"How dare you say that to me! After all I've given up for you-!" Marle sneered. 

"All you've given up? Try all the things you've 'given up' for this damned kingdom! Like mother's LIFE!" 

"THAT'S IT!" The King thundered. "As of this moment, we are no longer family! Get out of my sight!" 

"Fine! I'll get my things right now!" She stormed up the tower to her room and came back with a suit of red armor. The King did not even look at her as she stormed out. 

"Hey, Marle! How did things go with your father?" Crono asked as she came out. She glared at him. 

"I have no father." 

*** 

During the several day's trip down to Porre and back, Marle was completely tight-lipped about the castle incident. In Porre, they found the Mayor's House and were about to go in when Marle spoke up for the first time. 

"Uh... guys, we can't just take them. The Mayor of Porre is notoriously greedy. He'll never let us take the boxes." Crono thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. 

"I know. Me and Marle will distract him. Lucca, you sneak up and open them, then send it to the End of Time." 

"Gotcha." As soon as they went in, a pot went whizzing past their heads. 

"Whoa!" 

"YOU GREEDY JERK! I'M OUT OF HERE!" The shrieking came from a middle-aged woman in drab clothes. The object of her attention was a sleazy-looking man who was sitting on the couch, apparently unconcerned. Lucca crept up the stairs. 

"Eh, big deal! You cost too much to keep up, anyways!" The man sneered. The woman looked as if she was about to explode as she stomped out the door. The man's sleazy eye shifted to Crono. 

"Hey, kid! I'll give ya 5 Gil if you act like a chicken!" Crono resisted the urge to deck the jerk. 

"Buck-buck-buckAWK!" 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAA!!! Here ya go, 5 gil!" 

Crono turned to see Lucca snickering. As they left, he asked her, "How long were you standing there?" 

"I came down just before the chicken act. You make a great bird, Crono." 

"For the fiftieth time... shut up." 

Their last stop was Heckran Cave, where they found another ring, this one with a bow and arrow symbol. It turned out this improved a person's accuracy. Lucca got it. 

"Hey, I have an idea." Crono spoke up. "Let's go visit Melchior while we're here." 

*** 

"Crono, m'boy!" Melchior smiled. "What have you been up to? Did you manage to beat Magus?" This prompted a triple jawdrop. The old man laughed at this. "Please! You think I didn't know what you were using it for? Now come in and sit down. I'll make us some tea and you can tell me what you've been doing." 

An hour later, they had filled him in on everything. Melchior nodded his head slowly. 

"So, that's what happened..." He walked over to the window and pointed to a spot north of Medina Village. 

"There's a place I think you should go visit. Look up north of the village, please." Lucca frowned. 

"Well, if you say so..." 

A day later, they were back in Medina. As they passed by the village square, Crono glanced up onto the pavilion... and promptly gagged. The last time he had been here, the Mystics had been worshipping a statue of Magus. Now, however, it was changed to a statue... of Ozzie. 

"So, that fat freak survived..." He murmured as he gazed. Then he saw that Marle and Lucca were far ahead of him. "Hey, wait up!" 

"So, when do you think we'll see this thing?" Marle asked some time later. Crono rolled his eyes. 

"Beats me. Maybe the old guy's just gone sen... homina homina homina..." It was the same blue pyramid of light that they had seen on the single island in Zeal! Gingerly, they crapt up to it. As they stood before it, the Pendant began glowing eerily. A blue spark shot out of it and flew to the point of the pyramid, then split into four. Each spark slid down to a corner of the pyramid, where there was a blue orb. As the sparks touched the orb, there was a flash, and the pyramid vanished. Where it was, there was a stone platform covered in ancient designs. On it, a Nu stood between two Boxes. 

"The seal has been broken. I will give you the treasure of the Guru of Reason." He turned to the first chest. "To my right is a weapon with the power to destroy." He turned to the second. "To the left is protective gear which will guard your life." He turned back to them. "Choose whichever you feel you need, and take it with you." He closed his eyes and sighed long and loud. 

"13,000 years was a long time to wait, but at last, it is ended. Belthasar, my mentor, I shall see you shortly..." With that, he disappeared, leaving the two chests. Crono turned to the girls. 

"What do you think? Do we go with the weapon, or the pprotection?" Lucca grinned. 

"The weapon. Kill is good!" Marle shook her head. 

"I say the protection. We don't want anybody dying if some bum gets in a lucky shot." Crono groaned. 

"Choice is down to me. Shoulda known. Okay, there's only one thing to do..." With that, he took out a single piece of gil and flipped it. He looked solemnly at it, then walked over and pressed the Pendant to the chest on the right. There was a blinding flash, and both chests were gone... but before him lay a sword of crystalline blue. 

*** 

"Yes..." Melchior said softly as he examined the blade. "Just as I thought... my boy, this sword was the weapon of Belthasar, the Guru of Reason, when he was younger." 

"I didn't know it was THAT good..." Crono muttered. "What's it made of?" 

"Pure, tinted dreamstone. Like the Masamune." Melchior gave the sword back. "Now, I suggest you go and talk to the old man at the End Of Time." 

"How do you- yeah, yeah, I know, you can't tell us now. Well, thanks anyways, Melchior." 

****

APRIL 23, 0000 XD 

"Eh?" The old man said. "What the-? Oh, you guys. How've you been?" 

"Pretty good, actually." Crono smiled. "Except there was this place called..." 

"Zeal?" Crono blinked, then nodded. The Old Man smiled under his hat. 

"I've been watching the whole thing, m'boy. Now, where you need to go is back to the future." 

"Oh, yeah!" Crono snapped his fingers. "Those Doors!" 

"Yeah, and more. When you're done looting, look for the Keeper's Dome." 

"Excuse me?" Lucca yelled. "Looting?" 

"Well, isn't it?" The old man retorted. 

"Well, yeah, but... looting just has a... not nice ring to it!" This caused everybody else to break out laughing. Lucca turned red. "Let's just get going already!" 

****

APRIL 27, 2300 AD 

"I had forgotten how bleak it is..." Lucca muttered as they walked from Lab 32 to Arris Dome following a successful rematch with Johnny. They had already gone back to 600 AD and reopened the chests. This time, they had found mail vest instead of fulls suits of armor. They had yet to ask Spekkio if he knew anything about them. As they entered the dome, Doan looked up and smiled. 

"Hey, everybody! They're back!" A resounding cheer came from the residents. Crono and Co. mock-bowed, then walked over to their old friend. 

"Hey, Doan. How's the seed doing?" Doan held up a battered clay pot. In it was a glowing green plant. 

"Take a look for yourself! If it keeps growing, we may have hope after all. By the way, some guy from Trann Dome managed to fight his way here, and we gave him a sapling. If he can make it back, and I think he can, then those people'll be better as well." 

"That's great, Doan. If you'll excuse me, there's something we have to get in your basement." 

The password worked as well as ever, and they easily found the door. It opened just like the one at Zeal. Inside was a dimly glowing robe. Marle took it off its hook and tried it on, and it fit perfectly. Crono smiled. 

"Looks good on you." 

"Thanks." She gave him a peck on the cheek. Lucca rolled her eyes. 

"Right, if you two are finished..." 

They stayed the night at Arris Dome before heading east through Lab 16. This time, the monsters all squealed and ran after the first encounter, in which Crono had blown three Mutants to dust with his Lightning 2. 

At Trann Dome, everybody was clustered around a pot with a plant much like the one at Arris. In one corner, the guy who had greeted them almost two months ago was resting, with many bandages on him. The three didn't disturb the people; they just crept around and opened the door. Inside was a suit of armor that was glowing like the robe had. Crono immediately tried it on and found that just Marle's Robe had, it fit perfectly. 

The final door, in the uninhabited Bangor Dome, turned out to have only a small grey jewel. The Gate, however, led back to the End Of Time and opened the Gate to the meadow in 1000 AD's Guardia Forest, where they claimed the final chest: A ring with a sword on it. Crono took the Muscle Ring, and then they went back to 2300 and Arris Dome. 

"Back already?" Doan asked as they walked in. 

"Yeah, we got what we wanted. Has anybody heard of a place called the Keeper's Dome?" The people stared blankly at each other and conversed in whispers. After a few minutes, one woman walked over to the group. 

"I think you want the old guy living down near Death Peak. Talk about crackpots... you can get there via the Sewer Access." Crono nodded. 

"Thanks. See yas." 

*** 

The Sewer Access turned out to be a very small dome covering a hole with a ladder. Below it was-what else?-a sewer. As they entered, a tiny yellow figure with purple wings flew up. 

"Intruders! Must tell Sir Krawlie!" With that, it was gone as quickly as it came. Crono rolled his eyes. 

"Great. MORE trouble. What's next? The attack of the fish-people?" On cue, two fish-man Nerieds poked their heads out of the water. The teen snorted. 

"Figures. LIGHTNING 2!" The effect on water was fairly predictable. He looked to the left, then shook his head. 

"Bridge's out. We have to go south." As they proceeded, they suddenly caught sight of two yellow frogs croaking at ech other next to another missing bridge. 

"Gribbit! The bridge was here! It WAS!" The smaller one protested. The larger one scowled as well as he could. 

"Then where is it, gribbit? It didn't just get up and walk away, did it?" Suddenly, he caught sight of the three. "Somebody's coming! Let's scram, gribbit!" The two frogs ran down a flight of stairs. Crono shrugged. 

"Big deal. We don't have time to chase frogs. Where do we go?" Lucca frowned. 

"Looks like the only way TO go... is down those stairs." 

"Of course." Once they were down there, Crono saw a sheet of paper. 

_I've had it... the fish-people attack if I make a single noise. I'd rather have my gums scraped then have to fight those fiends._

"Let's be really quiet." Crono whispered to the girls. On they went, passing various things. A mangey alley cat. A tin can and a trash can. A wedge of moldy cheese. Finally, they got back up to the second floor... and were immediately staring down a cluster of egg-like creatures. The only break in the shell was a mouth that extended around the entire thing, filled with purple slime. A few minutes later, the three continued on, severely gooked up. 

"Hey, it's those two frogs again." Crono whispered. They were on the other side of a thin alley, and the flunky was pointing at a wall switch. 

"Press this, and the door opens, gribbit!" The boss crossed his flabby arms. 

"So press it, gribbit!" The flunky tried vainly to get up to it several times before giving up. 

"It's too high, gribbit!" The boss snorted and shook his head disapprovingly. 

"And you call yourself a frog! Gribbit!" Suddenly, the boss discovered Crono and co. standing right next to him. "GRRIBBBAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Crono laughed. 

"Lemme help you with that, guys." He clamly pressed the switch. Across the gap to the right, a cybernetic door opened. The frogs blinked, unmoving. Lucca crouched next to them. 

"How's this for a deal? Since we helped you, can you show us the way out?" The boss frog slowly nodded, and the two proceeded back through the alley, then around the back. 

"Good thing we didn't come through here our first time around." Lucca commented as they walked. "We would've been creamed." 

"Oh, I think we could've handled it." Crono said nonchalantly. 

"Oh, please." Lucca rolled her eyes. "Do you really think we'd have been any match for those Nereids without our magic?" 

"Sure!" Crono retorted. "We could've... YOW!" This exclamation came from seeing a creature that looked like a giant centipede. The frogs started shaking wildly. 

"It's Sir Krawlie! We're doomed!" Sir Krawlie was now conversing with the little yellow gremlin they had seen at the start. 

"Human snobs! Walking through the sewers like they own it! What cheek!" Krawlie was yelling. "Well, when they come through here, they'll get a nasty lesson! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" 

"HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" The gremlin joined in. 

"HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" 

"HEHEHEHE-Eh?" The imp caught sight of them and ran. Krawlie turned around to see the Antipode's energy heading right for him. 

"OH, CRA-" Krawlie exploded in fire and ice, sending chunks of flaming and frozen gook everywhere. 

"Nice job," Crono noted. Lucca frowned. 

"Imagine what we could do if we got Level 2 spells like you, Crono!" The rest of the trip through the sewers was uneventful. At the end, as they were about to climb up, Crono spotted another switch and pressed it. All the bridges immediately extended. 

"That should make return trips a lot easier..." he murmured as he climbed after the girls. 

*** 

They were now on a relatively large island southwest of Arris. The only two features besides the Sewer Access were a huge, blue mountain and another dome. 

"The Keeper's Dome." Marle murmured as they entered. Machinery and computers were everywhere. The only sign of habitation was a Nu sleeping in front of a screen near the entrance. As they walked over, it rose. 

"Greetings, again." It said. Crono blinked. 

"Have we met?" 

"Oh, yes. I gave you that blade you now hold." Crono stared at the Swallow, then shook his head. 

"Well, whatever. We need to talk with the Keeper." The Nu shook his head. 

"I'm afraid you cannot. The professor's programming was, in a sense, his own eulogy. Only his last invention remains, and my last task..." Crono facepalmed. 

"He's DEAD? We came all this way for nothing?" The Nu shook its head slowly. 

"Not dead... insane. He succumbed about a month ago. I have not seen him since." It frowned. "And your journey was not in vain. Look in the back..." With that, it dropped back into slumber. 

In the back was one more sealed door, but instead of treasure, this door held only darkness. As they entered, a spark of light began moving. As the three followed it, a recorded message began playing... 

"To those who opened the door... I am Belthasar, the Guru of Reason. I once lived in the Kingdom of Zeal. A great disaster in Zeal somehow threw me into this era. To my surprise, Lavos exists here, and, I suspect, in other periods as well. Aeons ago, Lavos descended from the heavens. Burrowing deep into the world's core, he began to consume our planet's energy, and grew stronger. Lavos disappeared briefly when he was summoned away be a mighty wizard who lived in Guardia, in the year 600." 

"Magus." Crono whispered. 

"In 1999, Lavos claims this world, and reigns from high atop Death Peak. Lavos continues to replicate... like a giant parasite, he is consuming our world. Forced to live here, I continued to conduct research on Lavos. But I am growing old. Old, even for a Guru... And it's impossible to keep sane in such trying times. So before I lose it completely, I shall safeguard my data, and my ultimate creation..." The recording let out a long sigh. 

"How I long to return home... but I have grown frail... weak... So you... YOU, who have opened the door! I leave things in your hands. I charge YOU with this task. Only by mastering time itself do you stand a chance against Lavos. The odds will be against you... but I am a Guru, and I have seen what is to come. You are true heroes. The world is in your hands." The recording gave a weary chuckle, then resumed. 

"Open, now, the last door, and take what you find there. My last, greatest invention, and your next ally... My 'Wings of Time'..." The recording stopped, and Crono saw that they were in front of another sealed door. Silently, he raised the Pendant, and they walked inside. 

It was a large room, bare of all things except one; a giant, golden vehicle in the center. Lucca walked around, observing it from all angles. 

"This must be the invention Belthasar spoke of..." She muttered. "This is amazing..." Marle frowned. 

"How do you tell the front from the back?" 

Lucca straightened up, ready to deliver some insult, but she was stopped by a voice like the one on the recording. "Ah ah ah! No fighting in the hangar, please!" 

It was... the Nu. It was pushing a connected block of three seats to the front of the Epoch. When it was done, it turned to them and grinned. 

"Scared you, didn't I? It's me... BELTHASAR." Triple jawdrop. 

"But... I thought Belthasar was human..." Marle squeaked. The Nu nodded. 

"I am!" It frowned. "If there's anything left of my body, that is... anyways, what I did was copy my memory into my assistant. Waddaya think?" 

"Seems kinda... cruel." Crono admitted. The Nu laughed. 

"Hey, it was his idea!" He sobered. "Anyway, there's something I need to explain. Namely, how to transcend time!" He showed them a diagram of the control panel. 

"Okay, the Y button will bring up the time gauge. Once it's up, the L & R buttons will select a time. The A button will activate the time selected when the gauge is up, and open the hatch when it's not. The other buttons don't have anything assigned to them yet, so feel free to add some enhancements." He paused. 

"Oh yeah! Before you go, why don't you name it?" Crono turned to the girls. 

"Any ideas?" 

"Titanic!" 

"Millenium Falcon!" Crono rolled his eyes. 

"You two have been watching too much of Spekkio's TV." 

"Okay, smart guy, why don't YOU come up with something?" Lucca snapped. Crono turned to the machine and layed his hand on it. 

"I think we should call it... the Epoch." 

"Epoch... perfect." Marle said. Lucca couldn't help but agree. The Nu smiled. 

"Hop aboard!" Crono got into the lead seat, and Marle & Lucca took the ones behind him. He followed the instructions, and a gauge popped up. 

"What say we show the others this first?" He asked the girls. They nodded, and he set it for the End Of Time, then started it. Immediately, everything around them began flashing a brilliant white, and there was a crack of lightning. They found themselves travelling through a brilliant orange time stream at incredible speed. 

"Eeeeeek!" Marle screamed, looking over the edge. 

"Traveling at warp speed!" Lucca announced. 

"Epoch's capable of THIS speed?! It doesn't even have jets!" Crono yelled. Lucca's reply was drowned out by another crack of lightning. 

****

MAY 1, 0000 XD 

The Epoch was parked at the dock near the End of Time, and the three quickly disembarked, grinning openly at the stares of everybody else, who had ran out when they heard the noise. Crono idly noted that Spekkio had changed form again, and now resembled an Omnicrone in red armor. 

The old man was the first to recover. "Well, whaddaya know. You found it, huh?" For the first time they could remember, he left his lamppost and walked over to the Epoch, looking at it for a long time. "The Wings Of Time..." He turned back to the group. "You know where you need to take this." 

"Zeal." Crono nodded. "We're going after we rest up from the future. That was not a fun trip." Lucca yawned. 

"Actually, I think I'll stay behind. You guys take Ayla." The cavewoman let out a triumphant war-howl at this announcement, then suddenly jumped and ran back inside, followed by Frog & Robo. 

"What was that all about?" Crono asked Spekkio. The shape-shifter shrugged. 

"They're missing the big fight between Yoda and Darth Tyranus." 

"WHAT?!" Lucca screamed. "YOU GOT EPISODE II WIITHOUT US?! YOU ARE SO GONNA DIE..." 

"Blah, blah, blah. I copied it. Let's watch, already!" 

After the movie was over, Crono started to walk towards the Epoch when he noticed Marle wasn't with him. Turning, he saw that Marle, Lucca and Frog had remained in Spekkio's room. The teen grinned, having an inkling of what was happening. Three flashes came from Spekkio's room, one red and two blue, along with cries of pain and complicated cursing from the Master Of War. Marle ran out, grinning. 

"Guess who just learned Level 2 Magic!" 

"That's great, but we really need to get going. Zeal, ho!" 

"No, wait!" Lucca called. "You need to have Spekkio analyze the colored armor!" Crono groaned, then dragged the armor into the shape-shifter's room. Spekkio glanced at it, and his eyes grew wide. 

"Kid, that's a rare find. You remember the 4 elements? Well, that stuff will absorb a certain element and turn it into healing magic. Red for fire, blue for water/ice, white for lightning and black for shadow." 

"So what's the difference between the vests and mail?" Crono asked. 

"The mail heals you more." 

"Ah. Well, okay. Now, can we finally get going?" 


	11. Chapter 10: Whose Bright Idea Was It To ...

**__**

Chapter 10: Whose Bright Idea Was It To Make That Mountain Fly, Anyways? 

****

MAY 2, 12000 BC 

"Shit!" 

Crono's profanity had a reason; apparently, the skygate wasn't working. 

"We spend all that goddamn time getting the goddamn Epoch, hike for a goddamn day through that goddamn blizzard, and the goddamn skygate is goddamn OUT OF ORDER?!" Crono took a break from his ranting to kick the skygate, followed by the traditional "dance of injured foot." Marle just rolled her eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time since she had met him. 

"Can we get going already? Maybe we should head back to the Epoch and see if the old man has some advice." Ayla just walked back outside. Marle followed, and a moment later, still cursing, so did Crono. 

*** 

Crono's library of obscene expressions got another workout about a day later as they got caught in a very bad blizzard. 

"It's too rough!" Marle yelled over his profanity. "We're gonna have to take shelter!" Ayla soon located an abandoned tent. They didn't know who had made it, and didn't care. All they knew was it kept the storm off them. Ayla immediately flopped on the ground and zonked out, and the other two decided to follow her example. After about an hour, though, it became apparent to Crono that sleep was not happening. As he rose with a groan, Marle also sat up. 

"You too?" She asked. An affirmative grunt. The princess sighed. "You know, while we were out searching for the Epoch, we were always on the move... I never really had a chance to stop and think..." Another grunt. "But now that we've stopped, I'm worried..." 

"About what?" Crono spoke coherently for the first time. 

"Well... about Janus..." 

"Ohh..." 

"I mean, we all know that's just hogwash, right? But... but what if it's not?" She wiped her eyes. "What if one of us is really gonna..." 

"Marle." He looked into her eyes. "Look, stop obsessing. He was just spouting gibberish." 

"But..." 

"No buts, Marle. None of us are going to die." He smiled. "Just trust me, okay? Remember, we took down Magus. Nobody can touch us!" Marle still wasn't fully convinced, but she smiled anyways. 

"Thanks, Crono." She gave him a peck on the cheek, then laid back down and went to sleep. The teen looked at the wall and frowned. He wished he had been as confident as he sounded. 

_Yeah, we beat Magus... but we still got our butts kicked by Golem... why am I getting the feeling that all that business with Magus was just a warm-up? These people at Zeal mean business... well, not that Magus didn't but..._ Crono groaned. _I'm tying my brain in knots. I guess all I can do is hope that we don't run into more big ugly yellow things. _

When he woke up, the blizzard had let off enough so that they could go back heading north. Ayla charged out, completely oblivious to last night's conversation. Marle gave Crono a quick smile before they followed. 

Another day later, Marle asked for the fiftieth time, "Why won't you just admit we're lost?" 

"Because we're-" Crono's fiftieth repitition was cut off by Ayla's whacking him in the head. The cavewoman pointed ahead. 

"Cave!" As they walked in, Crono grinned widely. 

"See, I told you we weren't... dammit." It wasn't their cave. A higher ledge was covered with a thick moss, and a primitive reed ladder hung down. After some careful deliberation (mainly Crono and Ayla yelling at each other), they decided to go on up. At the top, a filthy man sat, dressed in a garment that resembled a potato sack more than anything else. He raised his head at them and blanched. 

"Oh, no... please, no more... we are few enough now as it is..." 

"What are you talking about?" Marle demanded. The man stared at her incredulously. 

"Are you telling me you're not from Zeal?" 

"No. We visited Zeal, but we do not come from there..." Crono told him the same story they had told the Zealans. When the tale was done, the man was shaking his head incredulously. 

"Amazing! So you bear us no malice... welcome to Algenny, town of the Earthbound Ones." 

"Earthbound Ones?" Marle cut in sharply. The man stared at her. 

"I see you really do have no knowledge of us... we Earthbound Ones are the people who lack magic. We have none at all; therefore, if we were to enter the Lands of Zeal, we would die horribly." 

"What?!" Crono exclaimed sharply. "But our friend Ayla here has no magic, and yet..." 

"No, Crono." The cavewoman stopped him. "Ayla no go to flying land. Ayla go back to End of Time." 

"Oh yeah..." 

"Well, you're wrong about one thing..." The man said. "She does have magic. It's very faint, and it's very strange, but it is magic... even us Earthbound Ones can detect it." 

"Hm." Crono said. "So Ayla should be safe. But this still seems fishy... are you sure the people of Zeal aren't telling you lies to try and keep you down here?" 

"Oh, the people of Zeal are very kind to us... mostly. Many of them will sometimes come down and see if we're doing alright, although they cannot use their magic to help us..." 

"What do you mean by that 'mostly'?" Marle asked. The man looked down. 

"Well, the Queen... and her aide, Dalton... are both very cruel. They are in charge of the Ocean Palace operation..." 

"What's that?" 

"Well, they are constructing a giant palace beneath the waves that will allow them to tap into more of Lavos' power then before. We Earthbound ones are taken to work on the Palace, but none of them have ever returned." 

"But wouldn't you have to go through Zeal to get there?" 

"Yes, but the Queen has developed a marvelous new shield which will shield us from the magic ambience! However, there are not very many of these shields, so they can only be used for things of utmost importance, like the Ocean Palace..." 

Crono motioned the girls over to another area and whispered, "These people are nice enough, but they have the intelligence of cattle. It's obvious Dalton and the Queen are pulling something over on them." 

"What about the Zealans?" Marle whispered back. 

"Same thing. Too much soft living will boil your brain just as too much hard living will. Zeal and the Queen are duping everybody." 

"Maybe we help later. Now, we look around." Ayla offered. The other two agreed, and they all walked into the tunnels. The man at the entry waved at them as they walked by. 

All the people in Algenny were dressed in the same way as the man at the entrance. It seemed word that they were not Zealans had passed through, and they were greeted with smiles. At the lower level, there was a cave which was painted red around the edges. A child ran up to them. 

"Hey, the beast's nest is dangerous! Better stay away from there!" 

"Beast's Nest?" Crono echoed. 

"Yeah! This cavern is filled with horrible monsters! The Queen herself came down here to put a magical seal that keeps them out, but anybody who actually goes in the cave is doomed!" 

"Magical seal my butt." Crono muttered under his breath. "More of the queen's tricks, I'll bet." He raised his voice again. "Don't worry, kid. We're really strong, so we're gonna clear out all the beasts for you." 

"What?" The kid gasped. "You'll be massacred!" Crono sighed. 

"We beat Dalton's Golem." This caused all the Earthbound Ones in the area to jawdrop, including the child, who looked impressed. 

"WHOA! Well, in that case, go ahead!" 

"Crono, you lied to them!" Marle hissed in his ear as they walked past. 

"Yeah, but we needed to get through. Besides, now that you've got level 2 magic as well, I'm sure we'll be fine. Trust me." 

All conversation was halted as a large, vaguely bull-like creature plodded in front of them. 

"That must be a Beast..." Crono said as he drew his sword. Before he could do anything, though, Ayla charged ahead and actually picked up the brute! She wasn't done there, though; with a ferocious yell, the cavewoman heaved it into the back of the cave, onto another one that was just rising. The Beasts did not appear to be blessed with any particular intelligence; the two immediately began fighting each other, apparently having completely forgotten about the three, who quietly moved on. 

The next two beasts were dealt with the same way. At the back of the cave was a huge, stone chain attached to the ground, with the other end leading through a hole in the ceiling. Blocking it were two more beasts, with their skin colored an unusual red and blue respectively. A brown imp slid down the chain; one of the very rare Mud Imp breed. 

"You can't pass through here!" It sneered and made a face. "The Queen has decreed that all who attempt to climb Mt. Woe shall be killed! Go, boys!" 

The Red Beast immediately charged, fully intent on goring the three. Ayla met it with the same maneuver she had used on the other Beasts. However, these two did not engage each other; instead, they counterattacked by ramming her at the same time! 

"These are my special babies!" the Mud Imp snarled. "They're far smarter than those other dolts!" 

"LIGHTNING 2!" The old electrical radius sent the Blue Beast reeling, as well as blasting the Red Beast and Mud Imp. The Imp took one look at the Blue Beast before jumping onto Red's back. 

"You creeps! I'll fix you!" The Red Beast roared approvingly and blasted forward, picked Crono up on its horns and smashed him into the wall. 

"ICE 2!" Marle's spell slammed a pair of giant glaciers onto all three enemies, and the Red Beast flopped down. The Imp ran over to the Blue Beast and began kicking it. 

"Get up, you lazy bum! Kill these intruders!" The Beast slowly rose to its feet and flattened Ayla. Crono extricated himself from the wall and made a dash for the Imp, sword ready. He was a perfect target for the Red Beast, who charged for the unwary teen's back... and was met by Marle's Ice 2 and sent skidding across the floor to crash into his partner. The Imp groaned. 

"Idiots! HEAL!" Golden sparkles washed over the beasts, and they got up. Immediately, they jumped and came down at the same time, causing a quake that kocked all of the good guys off their feet. The Imp laughed. 

"That's more like it! Go for the X-Strike!" Crono got off his feet and turned to see Marle get slammed brutally into the wall. He immediately changed his strategy, jumping towards Ayla; those poor excuses for hamburger meat were going DOWN. The Cavewoman immediately caught on, picked him up and flung him into the air. Unknown to either of them, her vague aura of Mysticlike magic leaked into the throw, and as Crono readjusted, he was aided by a glowing energy that formed into a whitish blaze. 

"Awright, you bull-brained morons... FALCON HIT!" He charged, sword ready, and the energy smashed him forward too fast for any of them to follow. He landed, struck a dramatic pose, and a moment later, the heads of the two beasts crashed to earth on either side of him. 

"Ugh." Marle said, holding her nose. "That would have been more impressive without all the blood. It appears Beast guts stink to high heaven." 

"Sorry." Crono grunted as he turned to glare at the heavily sweating Mud Imp. It took a step backwards, then kicked something at Crono. It hit him in the face and exploded in a lcoud of green dust. A moment later, he dropped to the floor, completely asleep. 

"Time to make my getaway! See ya, chumps!" 

"Oh, no you don't..." Marle growled. "Ayla! Let's try that thing we talked about! ICE!" Her spell was aimed at Ayla, but did no damage; instead, the cavewoman picked up the huge block and threw it towards the Imp. 

"OH, NO!" The Imp tried to run, but the block was faster, smashing him flat against the earth. 

Crono slowly rose. "Geez... what a hassle." He looked at the ice. "Takes care of him. What do we do now?" 

"I think we climb the chain..." Marle offered. Ayla immediately jumped up and clambered up the chain through the hole in the ceiling. A moment later, she fell back down with a cry. 

"What's wrong?" Crono asked. She looked at him, obviously frightened. 

"Mountain..." 

"Mountain?" Crono blinked. "The earthbound ones said something about a mountain of woe... lemme see." Crono and Marle climbed up, followed by an apprehensive Ayla. Then they stopped. 

"Holeeee.... sheeit..." Crono swore. The mountain was flying! The goddamn mountain was FLYING! 

"Crono..." Marle's voice shook. "Crono, this is... if the queen can do this... we're dead!" Her voice slowly rose as she began to panic. "Dead, Crono, DEAD! We're going to be slaughtered! What were we think-" 

"MARLE!" He yelled, breaking her off. "Do NOT go hysterical on me, okay? If you panic, then we're in big trouble!" His tone softened as he looked into her eyes. "Look... you're overreacting. If you think about it, things aren't as bad as they seem. I'll bet Magus could've lifted a mountain, and look what happened to him! Everything's going to be okay, Marle... just trust me..." He kissed her, and saw her face relax. 

"Yeah... yes, I'll trust you..." She frowned. "Hey, where's Ayla?" 

"There she is..." Crono pointed to where Ayla was crouching, a ways away. As they walked closer, they heard her talking. 

"Then they kiss! Hee hee hee!" Crono heard Lucca's voice respond from the white globe. 

"Hee hee hee! What're they doing now?" 

"They is... URK! Aylagottago!" The cavewoman attempted to run, but Crono grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. 

"Care to handle this, Marle?" 

"I'd love to." A moment later, a low-powered Ice spell had sealed Ayla's mouth, and the three continued up onto the floating mountain. 

*** 

"What's that? Looks like a gold Shist..." Crono asked as he caught sight of his first creature on Mt. Woe. Marle glanced at it. 

"It's a Rubble. Harmless, but if we go near it, it'll lock our magic." 

"I've been meaning to ask you... how do you know about all the creatures?" 

"Fossil lessons as a princess, plus watching documentaries with Spekkio." 

"Ah." They continued on, silent, until a pair of screeching birds appeared, each carrying an imp. The remarkable thing was they all appeared to be made out of stone! 

"Who do you think made these?" Crono shouted at his teammates as he jumped into the air and cleaved a bird in two. 

"Probably Dalton!" Marle yelled back as she shot the other bird out of the sky. The imps got up from their crash landing and immediately resumed attacking. Ayla growled and charged, knocking them both off the mountain. As their screams faded, the three pressed on. 

The next obstacle was a quadruplet of orange gargoyles, growling fiercely. 

"Geez! Is everything made of stone around here?" Crono yelled as he slashed one in half. Its neighbor immediately turned and pinned him against the wall, then delivered a powerful series of kicks, ending with an explosion that almost knocked him unconscious. "GAH!" 

"CRONO! Cure!" Marle healed him, then yelled herself as another flung a crystal ball at her head. "ICE 2!" All three gargoyles were flattened. 

As it turned out, Mt. Woe was not one solid mass, but rather a series of segments connected by more giant chains. The three heroes continued up, fighting more Bantam Imps and Gargoyles. Near the top, they finally found something new; plants remniscient of the Meat Eaters of the future and Fly Traps of the past. 

"Man Eaters! Watch out, their gas is a hallucinogen!" Marle yelled as she shot a bolt into one, neatly imapling it. 

"Okay, we'll stay away! LIGHTNING!" Another was fried, but a third was turnng its blossom towards him, and blew a stream of pollen towards him. As it enveloped him, he suddenly saw that there not two, but four Meat Eaters left, one on either side of him as well as the two he had seen before! As he watched, their appeared to be an argument among them; one flattened another, and a third shot a fourth. Angrily, he charged at the third, and although it dodged, he did give it a nice cut on the "shoulder". Crono heard a sound behind him, and turned, too late, as the other survivor was on him... 

Ayla's punch literally knocked Crono off his feet. 

"Whuh... what the...? MARLE!" He screamed as he realized what happened. 

"It's all right, Crono. I've already healed myself." She winced as he caught her in a fierce hug. 

"Oh, Marle! If something had happened..." 

"It's okay! Nothing's happened... yet..." Crono frowned. 

"Hey, are you still thinking about Ja... wait, where's Ayla? If she's blabbing again, I'll... oh." The cavewoman was standing right next to them, pointing to her still iced-over mouth. Marle blushed. 

"Oh. Whoops." After it was defrosted, Ayla yelled a war cry and raced ahead. 

"Come! We almost to top!" 

*** 

As they climbed the last, completely vertical chain, the sky quickly darkened,and they could hear lightning. 

"Huh, boy..." Crono grunted as he heaved himself up. The mountain's peak was surrounded by many spiky edges. The back was a huge gorge, and before them, a podium held a large crystal block. 

"I wonder what that is?" Marle said softly. Ayla, ever the impetuous one, walked over and tried to grab it. The moment she touched iit, however, it flickered and disappeared, and an angry rumbling came from the gorge. 

"That doesn't sound good!" Crono yelled over the shaking. A moment later, its source was revealed, as a gigantic stone guardian rose! The monster was purple and covered with spikes, and sported two massive arms but no body below the waste. The ugly face stared down at them, then grinned horribly. 

"DARK... PLASMA!" From the hands came a massive purple energy blast, and all three heroes reeled. 

"FARG! Lightning 2!" The monster did not seem unduly affected. "Damn! Looks like Lightning ain't his weakness! Marle, Ayla, can you try that thing you used on the Mud Imp?" 

"I can do better, Crono!" Marle said. "That was just using an Ice spell! Let's try... ICE 2!" As the giant ice block appeared, Ayla heaved the entire thing into the air. It landed on the right arm, flattening it, then erupted in a large pillar of blue energy that left the stone creature minus its right arm. 

"Awright, gir-AWK!" Angrily, the creature grabbed Crono in its remaining arm and began to slowly crush him. 

"CUBE TOSS!" The technique worked just as well, and Crono dropped to the ground before glaring up at the now-defenseless guardian. 

"You stupid SOB... you don't like Ice, huh? ICE SWORD!" The attack damaged the creature, but did not destroy it. They continued to harry it until about a minute had passed, at which point it growled, "Commencing arm restoration..." 

"Damn, damn, damn!" Crono cursed as he jumped up. _Let's see if all this swordplay has payed off_... "CONFUSE!" Levitating in the air, the red-haired teen began dancing circles around its head, slashing at it time after time. After three rotations, he finished with a dazzling upward slash, then dropped to the ground and turned to look back at it. It was heavily damaged, but remarkably, still survived... and as he stared, two new arms rose from the gorge and attached themselves. 

"Damn! It looks almost beat... Ayla, can you stun it?" The cavewoman nodded, and even as the hands began to glow red for a new firey attack, she jumped up and kicked it square in the nose. Crono could almost see the stars around its head as he jumped into the air. 

If this doesn't work, we're toast... "Alright, Marle, gimme an Ice 2!" 

"WHAT?!" 

"JUST DO IT!" As she reluctantly complied, Crono looked down at the grinning gargoyle. 

"Grin at this, you bastard... ICE SWORD 2!" The giant block of ice encased its head, and Crono continued with his Confuse technique. However, this time when he ended it, he double-slashed horizontally, dividing the ice into three segments that ground away... taking the monster's head with them. The arms dissolved into sand, and with a flash, the entire giant followed them. 

"Whew... what a hassle..." Crono groaned as the crystal block appeared on the podium, then melted away, revealing... 

"MELCHIOR?!" The old man blinked at them. 

"Yes... yes, I am Melchior, the Guru of Life. Have we... met?" He blinked again. "Never mind that, what is happening with the Ocean Palace?" 

"From what we've been able to hear, it's almost complete. Zeal's moved the Mammon Machine there..." Crono explained. Melchior bowed his head solemnly. 

"I see... the Queen has degenerated to that degree..." He looked up at them. "The more energy the Mammon Machine absorbs, the further the Queen degenerates. Her soul has been stolen by Lavos... whom I once thought a god..." Suddenly, there was a horrendous rumbling. Melchior looked about frantically. 

"We must flee! With Giga Gaia destroyed, the mountain will collapse!" 

"NOW he tells us!" Crono yelled over the increasing shaking. Melchior quickly formed a strange portal and jumped in, and after a moment's hesitation, the others did as well. 

*** 

"Elder!" The elder of Algenny looked up as a man ran in. "The Mountain of Woe is crumbling!" 

"What?!" 

In the Beast's Nest, a family who had been cutting up the dead monsters stared up at the chain. 

"Mommy, the mountain's gonna fall!" The child squealed. 

Above the snow-swept planet's surface, the Mountain of Woe swayed in place, unconcerned with the titanic ruptures within its surface. Suddenly, the ruptures ended, as every single magical chain disappeared simultaneously. The Mountain hovered for one last second, before falling to earth with a titanic crash that they heard all the way up in Zeal. 

*** 

"Lavos sleeps deep underground, while consuming the energy of this planet..." Melchior's portal had led to Algenny, and now the four of them were conferring with the Elder. Malchior was speaking while pacing back and forth. "If the Mammon Machine was brought closer to him like you have informed me, he could awaken at any time!" He stopped his pacing and looked directly at them all. "We must hurry, before it's too late!" Suddenly, a man ran in, breathing heavily. 

"Elder! Schala is here!" Melchior stared incredulously at him. 

"What? Schala's here?" 

The question was answered when the beautiful young Zealian walked in, trailed closely by little Janus. The Elder looked at her firmly. 

"Schala... why have you come to such a miserable place?" Schala frowned back. 

"Stop degrading yourselves! We 'Enlightened Ones' are no better than you, and you know it! The only difference is that we are under Lavos's control..." Janus frowned as he looked around. 

"What a filthy hovel..." However, his words seemed to lack theiir usual bite. Schala ignored him, walking over to the Guru. 

"Melchior... when the Mountain of Woe fell, I knew I would find you here!" 

"Is it safe for you to leave the palace?" Melchior asked worriedly. She shook her head firmly. 

"That no longer matters! The Ocean Palace is now operational, damn the thing!" 

"Then all is lost!" The old man cried. She shook her head again. 

"You forget... without me, the Mammon Machine won't work! I have turned my back on that cursed, evil device!" She turned to the three. 

"I've broken the Prophet's seal on the Skyway. Hurry! You must stop... my mother... no matter the cost..." 

"Why don't we stop this right now?" A new voice rang out as a familiar man walked in. 

"Dalton!" Schala cried. The Queen's Aide frowned, mock-severely. 

"Tsk tsk, my dear. Your prescence is required elsewhere! You've been a very bad girl, sneaking out of the palace..." Melchior stomped up in front of her. 

"Dalton! You fool, leave us be!" Dalton just stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. 

"Ah! The geezer speaks! How was your visit with Giga Gaia, Melchior? He wasn't much for conversation, I'm guessing..." The laughing stopped imeediately, and Dalton's face turned hard. "Silence, old man!" He flung a fireball that knocked Melchior back, then jumped over the table and pinned Schala's arms behind her. 

"She's coming to the Ocean Palace with me. Do anything funny, and she's dust. Got it?" Janus ran over and began hammering on Dalton with his small fists. 

"Schala!" Dalton frowned and brutally thre Janus towards a wall. The small boy hit it then slid down slowly. Dalton just smiled. 

"The Queen's children all seem to have a problem with authority, don't they?" The three drew their weapons, enraged, but Dalton pulled out a wicked-looking dirk and held it to Schala's throat. 

"Stay back. The life of this woman means nothing to me!" Grudgingly, they dropped their weapons, and Dalton forced Schala to her feet. "Shall we get going, Schala dear? Your mother awaits!" 

She muttered several obscenities under her breath, and Dalton slapped her across the face. 

"You must learn to control your mouth, milady..." He opened portal like the one Melchior had used and threw the unconscious Janus in before following with Schala, making sure to close it behind him. 

*** 

The three clustered around Melchior, who was slowly rising to his feet. Ayla helped him up. 

"Old man okay?" Melchior nodded slowly. 

"I'm all right. But we must save Schala, or else..." The Elder, who had remained silent for the most part, spoke up. 

"Impossible! Even you could not do it, Melchior!" 

"If the Queen is allowed to fulfill her scheme, all life as we know it is doomed, Elder! We have no other choice!" 

"He's right." Crono said firmly. "We are going to kick ass for the common good. Enough said." Melchior blinked. 

"You're willing to challenge the Queen?" 

"Hell yeah!" 

"Of course!" 

"AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!" 

Melchior looked happy and worried at the same time. "You've done so much for us... and I don't even know your names!" Marle giggled. 

"You'll see... sooner or later!" Melchior stared at her. 

"What did you mean by that..." Ayla stopped the questions with another war cry. 

"AWOOOOOOO! Crono, we go now! Kick Queen butt!" Melchior quickly pulled something out of his pocket. 

"Wait, take this with you!" It was a beautifully carved knife of Dreamstone. 

"It's made from the same magical red stone as the Mammon Machine. With it, you can destroy the machine!" Crono took it and slid it into his pack. 

"Thanks, Melchior..." Suddenly, he became aware of the old man's eyes on the Swallow. 

"Th... that's Belthasar's sword! How did you..." Melchior sighed and shook his head. "No, no time. But when you've finished, promise me you'll explain things to me!" Crono smiled and waved, and as he left, he could not help but think More like the other way around... 

****

MAY 6, 0000 XD 

"Crono..." The teen sat up. After a few hours eating, drinking and vegging out with Spekkio, they were getting some rest. It had been decided that Frog and Lucca would accompany Crono into the Ocean Palace, with Marle on standby with the Blue armor ready in case they ran into any Golems. The voice had come from Marle, Crono realized as he saw her sitting on the floor, looking at him. 

"Yeah? What's the problem?" He frowned. She sighed. 

"Well... I'm worried again..." 

"About the Queen?" A nod. He smiled. "Hey, chances are we won't even have to go up against her directly. All we have to do is jam Melchior's Knife into the Mammon Machine, and the Ocean Palace is dust. Lavos is NOT gonna win, okay?" 

"Yeah..." She said sadly as she walked over to him. "But... Crono, I'm still thinking about... Janus..." Crono frowned. He knew now was not the time to ridicule her worries. Instead, he hugged her comfortingly. 

"I know it may sound bad... but Marle, nobody's gonna die. I'll make sure of that personally... trust me." She smiled, and hugged him back, and the two of them remained like that for the rest of the night. 


	12. Chapter 11: If There's A Leak, We're All...

**__**

Chapter 11: If There's A Leak, We're All Gonna Die 

****

MAY 7, 0000 XD 

"You two ready?" Crono asked. Frog and Lucca nodded. Marle raised her head. 

"Remember, if you catch a glimpse of a Golem, swap me for Lucca. I'll bring the blue armor." Crono nodded as Spekkio walked in. 

"Hey, kids. Leaving?" Crono nodded, frowning as he remembered something. 

"Hey, Spekkio. A bunch of people in Zeal said something about magic coming from Lavos. Care to explain?" The shape-shifter frowned back. 

"Okay, time for another impromptu lesson." The whitescreen, pointer and hat all appeared and the lights clicked off. The first slide showed three pictures: Ozzie, Schala, and Lavos. 

"Okay, here's the deal. Basically, there are three main types of magic. The first, Mysticism..." here he pointed at the picture of Ozzie. "...is the magic that came with the earth at the start. Besides the Mystics, it was also the source of Azala's-and cave girl's-magic. Mysticism involves a lot of mumbo-jumbo; wierd symbols, strange chants, summoning, and the like. A lot of gibberish. It's not individual; when somebody uses Mysticism, they're only borrowing from the Earth's collective whole aura. There are drawbacks to this, naturally, but we don't have time for that." He paused to take a swig from the ever-present mug. 

"Next is Zealean. Now, your pals in 12000 BC are partially wrong; this magic doesn't come directly from Lavos. Zealean magic was created from the disruption when Lavos fell to earth. His magic interfered with the planet's aura of Mysticism, and Zealean magic was created. This is the kind I gave you guys. Zealean magic comes more from your inner self. It's from your soul. Unlike Mysticism, the use of Zealean magic mostly involves focusing your soul's energy. Since no two people think alike, there will be some things that some people can do that others will never be able to. It's divided into the four elements, but I already went over all of that with you, so there's no need to do it again, is thtere?" He pointed at the picture of Lavos. 

"Finally, we come to the third kind; Lavosian. This magic is completely alien to the planet, and totally evil. Do NOT get mixed up with this shiznit. At any rate, Lavosian magic is only used by Lavos and those very close to him. Besides that, we don't know squat. And we probably don't want to, although I would appreciate any info you can find. That knowledge is barred from me, so I have to do it the old-fashioned way." He sighed. 

"There are one or two cases of people combining types, but we can do that later. Well, no, I lie. Actually, I don't know anything about that either." The tools disappeared. "Well, there ya go. Now get going and blow up that place!" 

****

MAY 7, 12000 BC 

True to her word, Schala had opened the Telepod. After a total of two days, the three arrived back in Enhasa. As they rested, Crono remembered the Elemental books and looked for copies in this city. He found them, and they opened a door behind the front counter. Inside, a Nu was sleeping, but it woke as they entered. 

"The Guru Of Reason is out. Would you care for a duel?" 

"Um... no, not right now." Lucca said. "We have to conserve our strength." 

"Pity..." The Nu sighed. "I'll be going to the Northern Palace soon, and that will be so boring..." It went back to sleep. 

2 days later, they came to Kajar, and rested up before beginning the one-day hike up to Zeal. When they reached the city, they were so exhausted they decided to take a snooze before heading in. When they woke, people were buzzing around excitedly. 

"Where's the fire?" Crono asked a woman. She turned to him. 

"Haven't you heard? The Ocean Palace will be activated today!" He paled. 

"TODAY?! We gotta move!" As they turned to leave, the lady called after them. 

"Excuse me, but could I ask you a question?" She gestured to an oddly familiar looking plant. "The Guru Of Life gave me this plant. He said that if the environment ever becomes endangered, this plant could restore it." She frowned. "But the Queen ordered me to burn it. What should I do?" Frog was the one who answered. 

"Keep it, lass, and plant it in secret. I think the Guru wouldst know more about it than the Queen." The woman nodded, looking relieved. 

"You're right. I'll grow it with love." They left and ran into the throne room, where Dalton sat on the queen's throne, whining to himself. 

"Phooey! Why is the Prophet allowed inside while I'm stuck with guard duty?" 

"Boy, looks like somebody has high ambitions!" Crono taunted as they walked in. "You'd better hope the queen doesn't catch you on there!" Dalton straightened up and glared at them. 

"Think you're funny, do you? I let the Prophet go ahead without an argument. I knew he'd screw up sooner or later. But I've no use for you anymore." 

"Oh, please." Lucca scoffed. "You 'let the Prophet go'? If you'd raised a finger, the Queen would have atomized you!" 

"Silence, fools!" Dalton jumped from the throne and struck a pose that looked remarkably like a hood ornament. "You're history!" 

"More like the other way around!" Crono yelled as he jumped towards his opponent. "CONFUSE!" He whirled around Dalton, slicing wildly, and ended with the fierce stabbing uppercut. Dalton winced with pain, but did not fall. 

"Oh, yeah? Well, have some of this! IRON ORB!" A huge, steel ball fell out of nowhere and flattened Crono against the floor. Frog immediately took action. 

"That shalt be the last spell thou cast, varlet!" He leaped into the air, preparing to do a Leap Slash, but his eyes grew wide as he saw Lucca's Fire spell heading right for him! A moment later, though, he realized her meaning, and caught the flames on his sword, diving downward and impaling Dalton through the back with the burning blade. 

Or at least that was the plan. Unfortunately, the magician dodged and the sword took him through the leg instead of the back. Crono jumped into the air, not giving him the chance for a counterattack. 

"This ends NOW, Dalton! Lucca, you saw what we used on Giga Gaia, right? Can you...?" 

"No problem!" The scientest snarled. "FIRE 2!" Flames danced around her as Crono neared Dalton, then left her and concentrated into a pillar of blazing red light that completely enveloped the magician as Crono stabbed downward with a vengeance. Dalton threw him off, eyes burning with hatred. 

"Damn you all! BUURP!" As the magician exhaled gas, noxious black waves flew from him and washed over them all, hitting them severely and knocking them away from him. He tried to rise, but fell back down as a bloody froth came from his mouth. 

"N... nooooo! I'm going to be immortal! I CAN'T die now!" With a supreme effort, he rose to his feet, and with another blinding flash, disappeared. Crono cursed. 

"Damn it all... hey, wait a sec!" There was something left over; a pillar of white light roughly the diameter of a person. 

"Looks like Dalton got careless." Lucca noted. "I'll bet anything this goes to the Ocean Palace." 

"Well, what be we waiting for?" Frog asked impatiently. "Let us be on our way!" The three stepped into the pillar and immediately sank through the floor, going down towards the ocean. As they grew close, Crono looked down and almost choked. 

"It's... huge!" The Ocean Palace was roofed by transparent domes, giving them a look at the interior. It was a twisted maze, a combination of Zealean architecture and imagination that could only have been hellishly inspired. Pits of lava were interlaced with bizarre statues, and hideous creatures roamed through the halls. The three shimmered into existence atop a glowing floor carving, and jumped as they saw who had been waiting for them. 

"The black energy grows..." Mune whispered conspiratorily to them. "Something scary is waking up!" As if to confirm his words, an angry rumbling came from below them, in the lower palace... 

*** 

"Schala, raise the power of the Mammon Machine to its limit!" The young lady quailed under the imperious eye of her mother, the Queen. Desperately, she gazed around for any sign of help, but the eyes of the seven Zealian scientests held pity, but no aid. And as for the Prophet... who knew what he was thinking? The Queen frowned at her reluctance. 

"Schala! You DARE disobey me?!" She sighed, knowing that disobedience was useless. In the end, her mother would have her way, as she always did.

"All right, mother..." She began her chanting with the Pendant, and the room flashed an angry red. The queen cackled as she walked up to the Mammon Machine. 

"Oh... what bright splendor! The incredible power of Lavos!" Ignoring her, Schala collapsed. The endless raising of the Machine's power had taken its toll on her. The Prophet turned to her, started to say something, then just shook his head and turned back to the Machine. 

_What was that?_ Schala wondered. _Who is this Prophet?_ And then another flash of red, and her only thought was of pain... 

*** 

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Crono yelled. Mune had vanished. Lucca shrugged. 

"Ah, well, that's not important. What's important is getting moving!" 

They moved out of the hall and into the next area: a teeming mass of firepits and narrow corriders patrolled by small, cycloptic winged monsters. 

"I have no clue what those are," Lucca whispered, "But they come in three different colors. Red, blue, and yellow. We might wanna try being careful with our elements." 

"Roger that." Crono whispered back. "Come on, everybody. Time's a-wasting!" They dashed out and confronted a pair of yellow ones, Crono leading with a Lightning 2 that incinerated them on the spot. 

"Okay. Lucca takes the reds and Frog the blues. If we run into a mixed group, use your Level 1 spells and target your color." Another pair of yellows divebombed them and were dealt with as easily as the first. To the north, three reds attacked, and Lucca strode forth grimly. 

"My turn. FIRE 2!" A circle of fire swirled around her, and a ring of bright red power radiated out, covering all the space between it and Lucca with a crimson haze. A moment later, the haze burst into explosions, frying all three instantly. A look around revealed the only remaining creatures were a trio of blues at the west side. Frog boldly walked over to them and raised his arms. 

"WATER 2!" Bubbles circled him, and a huge tidal wave washed over the room, sweeping away the foe. 

"Okay, now to figure out a way to go..." After a few seconds, they headed southwest. Two more reds met them, and they left a nice surprise in the form of a treasure chest containing a shiny new gun for Lucca. The next room was disappointing, though; a thick lava moat surrounded the island passageway going east and offered no way through. They checked out the southeast door from the main room and found it almost exactly the same, the only difference being the creatures were blue instead of red. 

"Well, that was a total waste." Crono sighed. "Now where?" Northwest, it turned out. The door led to a small room with the only feature being a bright blue button in the center of the floor. Pressing it prompted a rumble to the south-but more importantly, it released a pair of spinning monsters that straightened up into things similar to the Sorcerers of Magus's Castle. The twins, one a pale grey and the other a bilious green, leered down. Crono jumped for the green, but his sword was deflected by a grey aura that surrounded it. 

"The other be protecting it!" Frog snarled as he leaped for the grey beast, dividing it down the middle. 

"Roger that!" Lucca aimed her new gun and fired. With the grey dead, the shield shattered like glass under her shot, leaving Crono to finish it. Another door led southwest, and held two blues and a short, fat human-sized figure in bizzare pink clothes that completely obscured it. Frog's Water 2 squashed the blue ones, but the humanoid survived and sent a cluster of energy balls at Lucca. A moment later, Crono's sword seperated it from its head. Going through a door, they found themselves back in the main room. The only door remaining took them northeast, where they found almost exactly the same thing, the difference again being the color of the flyers. 

"Looks like whoever designed this place liked identicals..." Lucca muttered. Frog's eyes brightened with a sudden thought. 

"Those switches we pressed... mayhap they could alter the rooms to the south?" Sure enough, the lava moat was breached, allowing them access to the island-like structure. As they stepped on, one blue and one red swooped down, and a pink magician teleported in. 

"They're getting smarter!" Crono yelled. "Use your level one spells. I've got the piggy pink!" He charged and slashed its arm off as his partners dealt with the sidekicks. Undaunted, it raised its remaining limb and chanted a wierd incantation, and a red X slammed into Crono's head. Angrily, he finished the job and turned to Lucca. 

"Any idea what that did?" 

"As far as I can tell, you won't be able to use magic for a good 10 minutes." 

"Great. Just great. Let's hope we don't run into any yellows..." In the center of the island another switch rested, and a press caused a blinding flash and a telltale rumble from the north, where the main chamber rested. When they returned, a formerly dead-end peninsula going straight south had been filled with a door. A red and a blue met, along with a tall man in a yellow uniform and purple mask, wielding a staff. 

"A human guard!" Crono groaned. "I'll hit him. You two go for the bugs!" The man was no slouch with his staff, and managed to get a good whack in before being killed. 

"We've got no time for this!" Crono yelled impatiently as he charged south through the door... and braked to a stop just before plummeting over the edge of the pit into the gleaming metal chasm that extended so far down it was lost in the darkness. He shuddered at the though of what would have happened if he hadn't stopped in time. 

"Wrong way. Definately wrong way." An inspection of the previous room found a staircase leading downward that they had missed before. At the bottom waited a pair of statues; one of a beautiful woman, the other of a hideous demon. As the group ran by, the statues came to life, belching fireballs that resolved into two Mages and two staffmen. The Mages were easily dealt with; the staffmen, however, proved more problematic. As soon as the second Mage went down, they jumped towards the center of the screen and began spinning around in a vicious tornado attack that slammed Crono against the wall. 

"That's Masa & Mune's Waltz of the Wind!" Lucca's eyes narrowed, and she plugged one right between the eyes as Frog killed the other. The next staircase held four staffmen, each doing a bizarre dance that involved rising into the air and dropping back down. Carefully, they ran under each as he was in the air, and escaped unnoticed. 

"These guys are pretty thick..." Crono noted as they ran past another set of statues and down a staircase. The third set of statues boasted four staffmen running back and forth at high speeds. The group managed to slip past, even though one statue began sniping with fireballs midway. Down a staircase again to more statues, but this time, a crimson-armored Omnicrone lookalike came from behind. It did not fight, but shot off four fireballs before retreating, each of which formed into a staffmen. Two of the foes, however, had masks of steel grey instead of purple, indicating a higher rank. The purples were taken out quickly before they could use Waltz of the Wind. The greys had their own dual-tech, the X-Strike technique which Masa & Mune also used, and which Crono and Frog had used to take down Yakra what seemed like ages ago. It was nowhere as skilled as they had done it with, though, and the greys were killed quickly as the three moved on... then stopped in front of a cheerily grinning Masa. 

"The ancient red rock has been passed down through the ages. From it, many artifacts were made, both for good and evil... two of these were a magic pendant and a knife." He frowned, suddenly serious. "We embody the dreams of the Gurus, sealed within the knife... Now hurry, if you plan to confront the Queen. The whole world is depending on you!" 

*** 

"Ahh, I can feel it! The pulse of eternal life!!! Ha, ha ha...!" Zeal laughed as the power surged thorough the room. Schala's chanting stopped, her form weakening under the immense evil in front of her. 

"D... dark... force... wild energy...! Aughhh!" She fell again, and this time, the Prophet flinched visibly, his eyes seeming to linger on her, hidden by the ever-present hood. More flashes of red energy, and a scientest finally gained control of his courage, running up. 

"Th, the Mammon Machine! Your majesty, it's too dangerous! If the energy growth continues at this rate, we'll all die!" The Queen turned, her face contorted in rage. 

"You DARE preach to me? Well, don't worry, any worries you have of life end now!" With one slap, she sent ten million volts through the unfortunate man, turning him into the daily roast. The horrifying act gave Schala the strength of will to get back up. 

"Mother, what have you done?!" The Queen just laughed. 

"Noone will miss that fool! Don't stop, Schala! We're almost there! Immortality will be ours! Zeal will have the glory she... I mean IT... deserves!" She began laughing evilly. 

"Mwa, ha, ha... too long have I waited!" Schala simply looked at her, eyes filled with despair. And though she could not see it, the Prophet also gazed at the Queen, but his eyes were filled with hatred... 

*** 

At the bottom of the stairs were another pair of green and grey spirits, easily dealt with, followed by a gleaming metal vertical tunnel like the one before. This one, however, had a floor, which seemed somehow disconnected from the walls. Lucca's eyes grew wide. 

"Is this what I think it is...? It is! It's an elevator! I saw them on Spekkio's Tv..." She examined the floor. "Now, all we need is to find the switch..." A moment later, two blue fliers and two yellows appeared, accompanied by a mage. Level 1 spells zapped them quickly. Several minutes of searching found nothing resembling a switch, and Frog finally grew angry. 

"We be wasting time! The Queen could gain victory any time!" Furious, he kicked a large crystal orb built into the floor, and a massive rumbling came from all around. 

"I-is it a trap?" Crono wondered. Lucca shook her head, grinning wildly. 

"No way! Frog found the switch! Here we GO!" Suddenly, the FLOOR began rushing down the shaft! 

"Lucca, is this thing safe?" Crono yelled over the noise. 

"Normally, yeah, but we've got company!" A trio of purple staffmen jumped on... and were promptly knocked back off by the attacks. Their screams faded down the shaft as the next wave of attack came; two mages and two grey staffmen. Again, a few quick attacks knocked them off. The last wave, however, was much worse, as swarms of flyers of all three colors swooped in, ready to kill. 

"We'll never be able to beat 'em off in time!" Crono yelled angrily. "We'll have to use all our level-2 spells simultaneously, and hope we don't explode! LIGHTNING 2!" 

"WATER 2!" 

"FIRE 2!" 

The elemental attacks, instead of performing their usual functions, combined into a rotating pyramid of blinding energy. First, it took the form of bubbly blue water. Then, it became red flames. Finally, yellow electricity blazed forth, and the pyramid disappeared in blinding white. When the light dimmed, not a single flyer was left. 

At the bottom, the three averted their eyes from the remains of the foes who had fallen and moved on. A huge lava pit, with thin walkways curving left and right around the room, each ending in a door. The left one had a small room with a flyer of each element. Crono grunted. 

"Child's play." When they were dead, he pressed the switch behind them and went to the other room, which was identical. The second switch created a bright blue button in front of the huge lava pit, and pressing it extended a long red carpet over the pit to a door on the other side. 

"Rolling out the red carpet for us." Crono noted. "Let's not disappoint them." Through the door was an old friend with his back to them. Dalton. 

"How are your new scars, buddy?" Crono called as they took up formation around him. He reponded without turning. 

"Hmm... you've managed to make it THIS far, haven't you? It looks like I might have underestimated you..." He turned to face them. "But this is the end of the line! THEY will take care of you! Come, GolemTwins!" He jumped back as a familiar-looking black gate opened... 

"Crap! Lucca, switch with Marle!" Crono yelled. A moment later, the scientest was replaced by the princess wearing the Blue Vest. She threw the Blue Mail to Crono, and as he stuggled into it, Golem appeared, as ugly as ever. A moment later, though, he split into two! 

"Let's hope this strategy works... ICE 2!" The twin blocks of ice crashed into the GolemTwins. 

"Copying Water..." They returned fire, and Frog was the only one damaged! 

"It doth look like Spekkio was correct... WATER 2!" The water spell had the same effect. Crono grinned, despite the pain. 

"Okay. Now, let's get down to business!" The battle took on a rather back-and-forth tone. Crono and Marle would attack one with an Ice Sword 2, then the other, while Frog unleashed Water 2s. When Frog got weak, Marle would Cure 2 him. Finally, though, Frog lost his temper. 

"We doth not have the TIME for this! Lass, cast your Ice 2! WATER 2!" Marle complied, and the spells combined into a teeming surge of a tidal wave and an iceberg that completely flattened the Twins. Angrily, one opened its hideous mouth. 

"Copying Dalton... BLUURP!" The gaseous wave blew them back as its causer dissolved. The other Golem seemed to be preparing for something similar, but Crono had other ideas. 

"Not this time, you freak... Marle, Ice 2! Frog, 3-d X-Strike!" As she hit the Golem, Crono jumped and bounced off of the surprised Frog's head, reaching high velocity. Frog immediately got the idea and dashed to the Golem's side, and as Crono sliced it vertically, he did the same horizontally, both their swords strengthened by the ice power. After a moment, the Golem fell apart in four neat segments. Dalton jumped back down, outraged. 

"They beat the GolemTwins?! Impossible! All right, this calls for extreme measures. Here comes the GolemBoss!" Before he could summon, though, a red glow permeated the room accompanied by a rushing sound. Dalton turned, scared. 

"W, what's this strange force? Could this be... Lavos's energy?" He frowned, then took a look at the three. "Why are you trying so hard, anyway? Mere nutcases don't usually have THIS driving a mentality... and this energy has a certain... ugh! I have a bad feeling about this..." He growled, torn between two emotions. "Damn it all! All my work will be vain if I expire before I'm immortal!" He turned back to the three, making up his mind. 

"This is your lucky day, you three! Be sure to give my regards to Lavos... bye-bye!" He flew away in a beam of light. Crono turned confidently to Marle. 

"Ha-ha! What did I tell you? We kicked Golem's ass, and his twin too! I told ya nothing could beat us! We're invincible! And now, we're gonna go hand Zeal her head on a platter!" Marle smiled, the remainders of her doubt fading away with the death of the only foe to ever best them. 

"Yes... Crono, you're right! I'm sorry I doubted you... let's go!" She caught him in a fierce kiss, which he returned. They held it for several seconds, until Frog rolled his eyes and interrupted. 

"Ye two... this is all well and good, I suppose, but dost thou think Lavos shall wait forever? We must make all haste! Romance can wait for later! To the Mammon Machine, and the Queen!" 

*** 

The long hall was dark and filled with strange, glowing machinery. As they entered, a Nu turned, its eyes wide with fear. 

"This is the hall of the Mammon Machine... Now is the time to turn back... AYYIIIEEE!!" With a scream, it threw itself off the walkway and disappeared from view. The three averted their eyes and walked on. Ahead, six scientests stood in two rows, with the corpse of a seventh near the back. At the heads of the rows were Schala and the Prophet, and between them, standing before the Mammon Machine... 

"Zeal! Thy time has come! We shan't allow thee to meddle with Lavos, Queen!" Frog challenged. Marle turned to Schala. 

"We're here to save you, Schala!" Crono just stood there, glaring, his challenge open in his eyes. The scientests stepped back, sensing the violence implicit in the air, as Zeal, Schala and the Prophet all turned to face the three. Schala started to speak. 

"You're..." Before she could go on, she was struck by a magic bolt from the Machine. "Help!!" 

At this, the Prophet let out a cry and moved over to her. "Schala...!" The Queen ignored him and glared down at her daughter. 

"What are you doing, Schala?! You can't fall now! I need your help to finish this!" Frog spat a rancid oath at her before turning to his leader. 

"Crono, use the old man's knife to stop the Machine! Hurry!" Crono nodded, and pulled out the knife, then let go with a gasp as it began levitating by itself! As all in the room watched, two familiar voices came from the blade. 

"Here we go, Mune!" 

"Ready, big brother!" 

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Zeal shrieked as the knife plunged itself into the Mammom Machine's head, converting into a massive broadsword. Beautifully polished, the sword was a masterpiece, with intricate designs all up and down the blade from a time long ago. A small orb of untempered Dreamstone formed the pommelstone on the smooth golden hilt, and Crono could tell instantly that the blade razor-sharp. Frog choked, looking at the weapon he held and then to the one in the Machine. 

"T, 'tis... the Masamune?!!" The Queen was staring at the Machine, shorting out around the blade. 

"What the... th, the Mammon Machine is...!?" The Prophet jerked his eyes off the still-wounded Schala and turned to the Machine as well. 

"It's coming! Finally, after all these years...!" Schala stared at him for a moment before switching her gaze to the Machine as well. 

"N-no, stop! That sword alone can't stop it!" But it was too late. As the room began flashing a brilliant red, a sound was heard that only had been heard once before, on an aged recording in the far future. 

With an alien scream, Lavos emerged. 

"It's time! Let's atta..." Crono's cry of fury was drowned off by the explosions as the monster launched a rain of destruction into the heavens, which then fell back and totally devastated them. All three of them were instantly defeated, only a step away from unconsciousness. And Lavos laughed. 

*** 

Crono groaned as he opened his eyes. _No... NO... we tried so hard... we can't have lost like this... we just can't.... it's over... wait... somebody's coming... it's... the Prophet? Wait... no it's not... or is it? That's the Prophet... but it's also... _

"I've waited a long time for this... almost my entire life..." The man who called himself the Prophet whipped off the hood and concealing robe, and let his long, blue hair fly, above the deep purple cape... 

"I've been waiting for you, Lavos." Magus said softly. He turned to face the enemy, eyes narrowed with hatred.. "I swore long ago... when you first sent me away... that I'd destroy you! No matter the price! Well, guess what? It is time to fulfill my vow! Feel my wrath, Lavos!!" 

"What do you think you can do, you fool?" Magus scowled angrily as the Queen appeared behind the defeated three, dragging Schala. "Hmph! A false prophet... you'll be a snack for the great Lavos!" Schala moved between her and the others. 

"Mother, please stop! This evil power can only end in ruin for all!" Zeal just laughed. 

"Get out of my way, Schala! The almighty life force of Lavos lives in us all... you are a part of it! So it was destined! You cannot change fate now. Oppose me, and I will destroy you also. I care not for your objections!" She slapped her daughter, causing her to fall back (and causing Magus to flinch), then jumped onto the giant beast, just behind it head. "Come, Prophet, feel the power of Lavos!" Lavos roared, and a bolt of magic lashed out, ensnaring Magus. The sorcerer reeled, obviously in great pain, as he began to grow paler than he already was. 

"ARGH! No... no! My magic... being drained! NO!" With a crash, he broke from his bonds. "I will NOT be beaten! I survived the darkness to destroy YOU, Lavos! I may have lost my magic, but I still have this!" 

He drew from beneath his cape a weapon, but not his scythe. It was a staff of brilliant red. "This staff is made of pure, whole Dreamstone, untainted by your evil prescence! It was the chosen weapon of Gaspar, the Guru of Time, and now, combined with the weapon of Melchior, it shall be your undoing! Take this, Lavos!" With a scream of pure hatred, Magus launched himself at its head and delivered a brutal smash that sent a wave of force through the entire creature. For a moment, it looked like he had been right... then, with a flash of red, the force stopped and reveresed, andMagus was sent flying away. 

"WHAT?! It... it didn't work?! AUGH!" He was now in the same condition as the three and Schala as the Queen began laughing again. 

"Foolish one! Your measly power can't touch Lavos!" She paused, in some kind of mental communication with the beast, then smiled cruelly. 

"Here is a present from me to you! You shall all enjoy eternal life... as part of Lavos! Uwa, ha ha ha!" Witht another roar, Lavos began slowly pulling them all towards his head. 

Crono had been watching this with a kind of clinical detachment. He couldn't explain it himself, but for some reason, he felt completely calm, as he realized what he had to do, as strange, foreign voices filled his head. Marle and Frog struggled to rise, but could not. They were too weakened to do anything but speak. 

"Can you move, Crono? Do something! Please!" 

"Magus! Thou art mine to slay!" Schala and Magus couldn't even move. Crono slowly got to his feet, looking at them each in turn, then speaking softly. 

"Frog... you're in charge from now on... and Marle... Marle... just take care of yourself..." 

"What dost thou mean, lad?" 

"Crono? What are you talking about?" He ignored them both, walking past Schala and Magus. The Zealean girl looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear. 

"Crono... please... take your friends and leave! Humans... can't hope to defeat it!" Zeal heard this, and turned to him, sneering. 

"So! YOU are the Crono. Not very impressive, are you? It looks like the fates were wrong. Why don't you do as Schala says, and run away, yelping in terror?" Normally, this would have infuriated Crono, but in his current state, he barely noticed as he stood in front of Lavos and the others, his face defiant. The Queen's face was slightly amazed. 

"Haven't given up yet? What do you think you can do? You really challenge Lavos with that battered body of yours? Well, your spirit is strong, at least... but that won't save you! See the power of Lavos, and feel his wrath!" With a flash, for an instant Crono saw inside the minds of all present. 

__

No... we lost... Crono... you said we would win... you promised me... you promised we would defeat Lavos... you promised nothing bad would happen... you promised... what are you doing now, Crono? Are you still refusing to give up? What... what is there left to do? We've already lost... 

Impossible... Magus survived, and fought the same opponent as we... and now, both of us lie together, to be consumed by this foul beast... even he falls beneath Lavos's evil power... but what is the lad doing? Is he still fighting? I must help him... but I can't... I'm too wounded... 

No... I waited so long, and went through so much... and yet, I failed... I hate him so much, that I would gladly sacrifice my own life to rid the world of him... and yet I cannot... I am finally reunited with Schala, and THIS happens... even that brat friend of Glenn's can move, but I cannot... I HAVE to, but I can't... what IS that kid... could he actually be... impossible! 

I warned her... I warned them all... and they didn't listen... my mother... what has Lavos done to her? And who IS the Prophet? He acts as if he knows me, but I've never seen him before... and what is Crono doing? 

I almost admire him... ALMOST. He is completely defeated, and he still challenges Lavos? A strong spirit, yes... but a fool. He is of no use. Destroy him, great Lavos! 

_Enough_, Crono decided. He wasn't even going to attempt to take a look into Lavos's deseased brain, if he had one. _Well, Crono old boy, looks like this is it. It's been fun, hasn't it? I never thought this would happen. But if they say so, then I can't argue, can I? They're the ones who chose me for this rotten job, after all. Funny, how I never even thought of that until now. Now I understand how Azala felt. I hope Marle will be able to move on... I'm gonna miss her, all right. It's really too bad about that... Argh! I can't have too many regrets. There's no turning back now... hell, if I understand this right, there never was. Here it goes... Might as well go down fighting!!! _

"TRY THIS, YOU SICK BASTARD!!!" Crono screamed, raising his arms above his head. "LUUUU... MIIIIN... AAAAI-" 

He never got the chance to finish. 

Furious that this weakling DARED challenge him with that shreeded body, Lavos concentrated all the power that had been working on the room into one beam. Frog and Marle's eyes grew wide, finally realizing what he was doing... goading Lavos into... 

"DESIST, CRONO!" 

"CRONO!!" 

But it was too late. Even if he had wanted to, Crono would not have been able to pull away from Lavos's fury. Before Frog and Marle's disbelieving eyes, the room became an incandescent white. A massive beam of power slammed in to the teen, and through him, holding him in place. Everything was still for several moments... moments that seemed like an eternity, as Crono hovered in the air, caught by Lavos's attack, yet not respnding... and then, a small, sparkling object flew out from Crono and into Marle. 

And then, as if that object had been the final barrier, holding him together, Crono's lifeless body crumpled under the attack, slowly turned to a charred black blur, dissolved into ashes, and melted into nothingness. 

"NOOOOO!!!!!" Marle shrieked in a voice of indescribable loss. 

*** 

The scientests watched in stunned amazement as, one by one, Schala, Magus, Marle and Frog reappeared. Magus was the first to speak. 

"Damn him... damn him straight to hell... I can't beat him... Lavos!" 

Marle's eyes were vacant as she mumbled, "Crono? Where's Crono...?!" Suddenly, her face stiffened with horror and understanding."NOOOO!!!" Frog cursed. 

"Crap! It is too late for him... we must plan our escape! The palace crumbles!" A moment of silence, in which nobody said anything. Then, the silence was broken by Schala rising to her feet, amazingly. 

"The last of my pendant's power... will send you to safety..." 

"But what of thyself, lass?" Frog asked. Schala bowed her head. 

"That matters not... I know you can't forgive her, but... please don't hate mother, or our kingdom... it... it wasn't her fault... I'm so sorry..." Frog was first to go, followed by a sobbing Marle. Magus forced himself to his feet and looked into her eyes. 

"Schala... one thing you should know first, before you send me away. You knwow me. I am..." She looked back. 

"Yes... I know..." He blinked, incredulous. 

"You... knew?!" She shook her head slowly. 

"No... I only just discovered... now..." She smiled sadly. "Goodbye..." With a kiss on his hardened cheek, she spoke one last word, before he vanished as well. With a sigh of exhaustion, she collapsed. 

_Now... I leave it up to you... my task is done... the future is yours... the kingdom of Zeal is no more, and with it, I also am... _

And then she raised her head, startled, as three figures rushed into the room, followed closely by a fourth... 

*** 

Under the ocean floor, a titanic crevice opened. Inside the crevice, molten lava from the earth's core could be seen, but more noticable was the huge, demonic insectlike creature. Thousands of spines covering its shell rushed to angry life, firing off bolts of firey destruction into the heavens. The bolts ripped upward through the air... where the Kingdom of Zeal floated. Under the intense barrage, the magical earth crumbled, shattered, broke, splintered, and fell, piece by piece. Explosions rocked the land, and people died by the truckload. Enhasa, Kajar and the Palace were all ripped apart, their beauty and wisdom shattered like glass. To say nothing of the people inside them. Those that were not killed by the blasts were crushed by earth or fell to the land below. None were spared. The Magical Kingdom of Zeal, the most beautiful kingdom that the Earth would ever behold, was utterly destroyed in those few moments, consumed by its own pride. 

Below, on the earth's surface, the blizzards that had endlessly rocked the planet finally stopped from the heat of Lavos rising. But this peace was not to last, as the Magical Kingdom of Zeal came crashing, piece by piece, down to the planet. Some pieces hit land, smashing it into the waters. Some pieces hit water, causing massive "ripples". The Earthbound Ones of Algenny watched as the forbidden land of the sky came crashing down upon them, destroying, flattening, crushing, obliterating. And then came the tidal wave. The "ripples" all built up to one massive, all-flattening mass of destruction that tore across the lands, leaving only empty water behind. In less than an hour, the world was changed forever. 

*** 

At least 95% of humanity died in the Ocean Palace Disaster. The land itself was forever changed by the destruction. Most of it sunk into the ocean, leaving one sole continent and one or two small islands. The rest... was lost. The remnants of humanity were a scattered mix of Zealeans who miraculously survived the fall, and Earthbound Ones who had lived through the tidal wave. As they emerged and met each other, a horrible discovery was made; Magic had been forever lost to the Zealeans, as if the earth was not satisfied with mere physical anguish, and was punishing them for their hubris with the erasure of their energy. And so, they were forced to live as the Earthbound ones did. The Earthbound Ones accepted them freely, bearing no grudges. Together, they built a rough village on the sole continent, and began to erk out life as the pitiful remainder of intelligent life on Earth. Besides this small colony, there were only four instances of survivors. 

Two strangers, deep in slumber, who arrived in a mysterious flash as the cataclysm was occuring and were cared for by the kindly former Elder of Algenny as the long days passed. A beautiful young maiden with blond hair, and a short, green frog-like humanoid with a mystical sword... 

One forgotten loner, who arrived on a lonely cape and recuperated by himself, thinking of the ordeals of the past few months, and to what he would do now that he had failed again. A tall, pale man with long blue hair and a purple cape... 

One group of elite soldiers, on a flying fortress, who had barely escaped in time. They stayed in the air and bided their time, watching the village grow and prosper, waiting for their chance to strike and conquer. Their leader was a phenomenally arrogant man with long brown hair and a similarly-colored cloak... 

And one insane madwoman, who could not be properly called human any more, as she made her preparations deep beneath the ocean, in a Palace that was supposed to be destroyed... 


	13. Chapter 12: Flight 666, We Have A Proble...

**__**

Chapter 12: Flight 666, We Have A Problem 

__

"TRY THIS, YOU SICK BASTARD!!!" Crono screamed, raising his arms above his head. "LUUUU... MIIIIN... AAAAI-" 

He never got the chance to finish. 

Furious that this weakling DARED challenge him with that shreeded body, Lavos concentrated all the power that had been working on the room into one beam. Frog and Marle's eyes grew wide, finally realizing what he was doing... goading Lavos into... 

"DESIST, CRONO!" 

"CRONO!!" 

But it was too late. Even if he had wanted to, Crono would not have been able to pull away from Lavos's fury. Before Frog and Marle's disbelieving eyes, the room became an incandescent white. A massive beam of power slammed in to the teen, and through him, holding him in place. Everything was still for several moments... moments that seemed like an eternity, as Crono hovered in the air, caught by Lavos's attack, yet not respnding... and then, a small, sparkling object flew out from Crono and into Marle. 

And then, as if that object had been the final barrier, holding him together, Crono's lifeless body crumpled under the attack, slowly turned to a charred black blur, dissolved into ashes, and melted into nothingness. 

"NOOOOO!!!!!" Marle shrieked in a voice of indescribable loss. 

*** 

****

MAY 28, 12000 BC 

"Crono... Crono!" Marle shrieked as she opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of a crude tent, next to Frog, who was also beginning to stir. As she rose, the Elder of Algenny walked in. 

"You're awake? You were delirious..." Frog got to his feet, and she asked the fatal question. 

"Where's Crono?" The Elder bowed his head. 

"We found no one else..." 

"So it wasn't just a dream..." Marle muttered as she sank back to her knees. The Elder held up something. 

"Young lady, we found this on your shoulder, almost as if it were protecting you." She reached out and took it, her eyes shining. 

"My pendant... the one Crono kept for me..." Frog mentally cursed and forced himself to move on. 

"Whither hath old man Melchior gone?" The old man sighed. 

"One of the scientests who was taken to the palace managed to miraculously escape... partially. We found him on the shore. Somehow, he survived. He told me that after you left, the Gurus ran in and were sucked into black portals." 

"Black portals?" Frog mused. "Gates?" Suddenly, the thought of Gates brought thoughts of the other time-traveling device. "Epoch! What hath befallen it?" The elder frowned, a little confused. 

"Is Epoch the name of your vehicle? If so, it's waiting outside. It seems to have followed you here, almost as if it had a mind of it's own... at any rate, take all the time you need to rest. I'll be at the Commons." With that, he exited, leaving them to their own thoughts. 

"I am sorry for thy loss, madam." Frog said quietly, shaking his head back and forth as he fought his own feelings. Somehow, his own grief rivaled that of every other person in their group. Marle's especially…

_Crono was dead. Crono was dead…_

"It is a hard thing to lose a close friend." He continued before standing back up. Marle merely sat there on her knees, slightly bowed forward, head hung low, mind racing, spiraling.

_He couldn't understand. He couldn't get it. Crono was…I…_

Frog croaked low in his throat a bit, staring at Marle. Of everyone in their troupe, she'd taken the loss the hardest. If he didn't know her as well as he did, he might have merely passed that off as a weakness, her first experience with loss.

But it was more than that…The affection that Crono and Marle had shared was deeper than any Frog had ever seen. As if time itself had prepared for their coming.

The two had been in love, Frog grew sure of that in every passing moment. Quietly, he clenched his fists up at his sides and shut his eyes.

_"Frog, you're in charge from now on…" _Sure, Crono had put HIM in charge of this whole mess. With Crono leading them, it had been fantastic.

They had all been brought into his conflict. To save their world from a power none of them could have ever thought existed. To save the world from Lavos.

Nothing could go wrong. They had grown strong, so strong…Nothing had been able to stand in their way, not the Golem Twins…not Azala, not even Magus. There had been a charisma in their midst, generated by the red haired warrior. A mood of victory no matter how dangerous it got. And Crono had seemed sure they could pull it off. So confident, so young and bold and brash…

Frog had listened to Crono, fallen into that belief, just as everyone else had.

And now…Crono was dead. They'd finally faced Lavos…and Crono was dead. Vaporized in a blinding beam of energy that had held him aloft before causing him to whither like sand in a tornadoes' path.

_"Frog, you're in charge from now on…"_

"In charge of what…" Frog croaked quietly, turning about and looking at Marle again. In charge of them?

An amazon, a mad scientist, a mechanical man, and a princess…

They had thought to challenge Lavos. Challenge time. Challenge destiny.

And now Crono was dead. And they were supposed to move on.

Silently, Frog reached down into his pocket and pulled out the orb that Crono had used all the time to switch between members at the End of Time. It shimmered for a moment, and then he saw them all around the makeshift Town Square.

Their faces were as crestfallen as Frog knew his own must be.

"We…we need someone to come and join us." Frog said sadly. He didn't bother to continue the sentence. 

"Yeah…yeah, I guess I'll come with you for now." Lucca mumbled quietly, blinking out in a flash of light and reappearing beside Frog. Her features looked disheveled as she finally spoke up.

"There was a lot of interference after you reached the Mammon Machine, we weren't able to see what was going on…It was only when you were picked up by the survivors we could see you again."

"The power of Lavos disrupts everything, it seems." Frog chirped. 

"So, Crono…" Lucca began unsteadily.

"Crono's dead." Marle finished for her. For the first time since the Elder had come in and given Marle her pendant back…the pendant Crono had held for her…She looked up.

There was a quiet defeat about her. Almost as if the pain was so intense that screaming couldn't absolve it, her own feelings were kept bottled up, and only showed through the cracks.

"Crono's dead…he said that we'd all be all right, that we'd make it…But he didn't…He's dead…" Marle rambled, her eyes puffy and red. Lucca walked over to her and knelt down, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey…come on, Marle, stop…"

"He promised me…Promised me…But he's dead…"

"Marle, you have to stop." Lucca said firmly, putting her other hand on Marle's shoulder. "Crono wouldn't want you to mope around like this. He wouldn't! We have to keep going…"

"Keep going where…" Marle whispered back. She looked into Lucca's eyes. "To face Lavos again? To have another one of us die…To keep going on until we're all dead?! Is that why we have to keep going?!" Her voice grew more and more frantic, more erratic, choked by her sobs until she finally stopped and crumpled forward against Lucca, shaking in silent cries.

Lucca turned up to Frog, shaking her head.

"I think Marle needs some time to think about this for a while." Frog nodded quietly and held the orb near to his face.

"Sir Robo, wouldst thou care to join us?"

"I would." Came Robo's voice, in its familiar metallic chime. Yet for all that was artificial about him, the amphibian swordsman could detect a hint of his own sadness as well. 

Marle's eyes locked onto Frog's at that moment…misty, distant, and with a shattered beauty that tore at him from the inside out. 

_Marle…I'm so sorry…_

He never said it. He only thought it. 

In a flash of light, Marle was replaced by Robo. She would be safe now…safe at the End of Time, where not even Lavos could reach her.

Frog looked down at his sword bouncing off his hip. His slitted eyes narrowed a bit at the sight of it.

_You took up the sword to protect the weak. You accepted the Masamune to defeat Magus. And now…Now what? _

The answers wouldn't come easily. But Frog knew they had to move on. So he turned to Lucca and Robo, standing together a few feet away inside the tent.

"So where do we go now?" Robo asked calmly, as only he could.

Frog had no answer to give him.

Only a few tents had been set up, and the people spent most of their time at the small forest called the Commons. As they talked with the people, they soon picked up what had happened after the Ocean Palace disaster. At the back of the Commons, the elder waited, and behind him they could see Epoch. 

"Feeling better?" He asked as Frog walked forward. 

"Bow and pay homage to our new liege, King Dalton!" The sudden yell startled all present as three soldiers clad in purple jumped in, each grabbing a hostage. After they had secured them, a fourth person walked in, with a brown cloak and a superior sneer. 

"What's with all the harsh looks?" Dalton asked the people. "You should be happy to be alive, not worrying about the situation of royalty!" 

"Dalton! You slimy son of a mangy dog!" As Frog's challenge rang through the air, the enemy took notice of them for the first time. 

"Oh, it's you. Very interesting vehicle back there. It looks a lot like that thing Belthasar was working on..." He grinned evilly. "You know, I think that thing's too impressive for the likes of you. I'll take it, if you don't mind, and probably even if you do. It'll be my personal chariot! Here's a present for you!" He launched a fireball straight at Frog, who easily deflected it with the Masamune. 

"Grr... well, how about this?" He launched three fireballs, one at each of their heads. They seemed smaller, but when they got close, they exploded! As his vision began to darken, Frog saw Dalton laugh. 

"Mwa ha ha! Enjoy a taste of my true power..." 

*** 

"Surroundings... unfamiliar." Robo bleeped as the group slowly regained consciousness. They were in a metal room with a greenish tint, and there seemed to be a constant humming from all around them. Lucca suddenly shrieked. 

"ACK! All our equipment's gone!" Indeed, Frog & Lucca's weapons and armor were missing, and Robo looked... well... bad. Frog pulled out his wallet and confirmed his suspicions. 

"Confound it all! The money as well! Hm... let's have a look around..." The room's only features seemed to be a ladder leading upward and a door which they could hear soldiers outside. 

"Without our stuff, we're screwed in a fight." Lucca frowned. "The ladder it is." The three climbed up, then came close to collective apoplexy as they discovered that the entire structure was flying! 

"I believe that we have seen this before." Robo muttered, shaken. "It was called the Blackbird." Somewhat disconsolate, they crawled back inside. 

"Now what do we do?" Lucca groaned. Robo, however, leapt to his feet and ran to a corner of the ceiling. 

"There appears to be a duct here... just a second... fortunately, they missed my Laser Spin module. If I turn down the power significantly, I should be able to get the covering off." A moment later, the clang of the piece of slag falling indicated success, and they climbed up into the next part of the ship. 

"We can check out the halls from the other vents," Lucca explained. "We'll be able to see what those thugs are doing." They wandered around, going south. They found nothing interesting until they reached the southernmost vent. 

"Hey you!" The group jumped in surprise before they realized the voice wasn't directed towards them. Peering in, they saw Epoch, with several mechanics working on it. Dalton himself observed the work impatiently. 

"Be careful, you fools! This will be my personal aerothrone, and if you damage it, your heads will be the hood ornaments!" 

"We wouldst be slaughtered if we tried attacking him now," Frog whispered. "First priority must be the equipment, and then we can deal with that varlet." 

They crawled through the vents for what seemed like hours before they found a room with a treasure chest and only one guard... asleep! The three quickly crawled down and opened it. Inside was Frog's armor, the Hero Medal, and the Masamune! As he put it on, the guard began to stir. 

"Uh... and some bread too... huh? How'd you get... URGH!" His head bounced through the door like a bowling ball as Frog released a flaming curse. 

"Back up the vent! Quickly!" As they raced up, the knight couldn't help the feeling of jubilation that ran through him with the sword back in his hand... 

****

MAY 29, 0000 XD 

"How long has she been like this?" Spekkio muttered quietly, as he leaned against the railing just outside of his room's door and peered at Marle, still slumped on her knees in the far corner of the square.

The old man was leaning on the fence beside him, his bowler hat tipped down over his brow and giving him the narrowest margin of sight he could get away with.

"In their time or ours?" The elder asked back. 

Ayla perked her head up and stared over to them, her more primal senses picking up the tones of their conversation easily. However, she didn't bother herself with what they were talking about. More important to her was how the massive red cloaked Omnicrone could lean up against the seemingly fragile fence without breaking it.

Spekkio rolled his eyes at the old man's return question, an easy task considering he was a Nu. A pink one to boot. However, he only looked as strong as the people who looked at him were. For the old man, this was no problem. He saw Spekkio in his true form all the time. 

"Sorry, my bad there. Their time, I suppose. Considering time doesn't exactly 'pass' around here." All through their conversation, Spekkio never once broke his gaze from Marle.

"Tell that to my arthritis." The old man snorted, leaning on his cane a little more. He lifted the rim of his bowler and sighed. "Next time we decide to change this place, remind me to put in a bench. At least we could sit comfortably."

"Shoot, you'd just as easily find one floating around here as you'd build one, boss." Spekkio chortled. "But get back to my question."

"Yes, yes…" The old man coughed. "Fine. She's been in this state of…well, emotional distress since she woke up and realized Crono wasn't with them, and that it hadn't been a nightmare, as much as she prayed it was."

"Yeah. Meanwhile, the rest of the S.S. Minnow's crew is floating around on the three hour tour gone bad in Dalton's Blackbird." Spekkio grunted. "Talk about your bum luck, eh?"

"That Dalton has always been a troublemaker." The elder agreed, shifting his bowler again. "His spirit was always one of scorn and rage…the concept of tranquility not only missed him, it missed him by a country mile."

"Think they'll make it?" Spekkio asked quietly. The old man stared blankly for a few moments, out into the blackness that permeated the loneliest, most desolate spot in the entire Universe.

"You trained them. What's your opinion?" He shot back. Spekkio rolled his eyes again. Not at the question, but his associate's attitude. It was back to normal.

In The End of Time, time was just that. Ended. It didn't go forward. And it certainly didn't go back. It just was. Living in the End of Time gradually degraded you, because it meant you knew everything that had happened. HAD. Not would. Had. Knew how it would all end. Knew how all the pain and grief would overpower the joyous moments.

Spekkio didn't remember who got there first. Him or the old guy. But somehow, within a short span of time, (If even that could be used as reference in a place where time had no grasp) they'd met up here. Both had accepted their fate, and moved on. 

Spekkio was naturally part maniac. It came with his species. Spekkio had learned how to deal with the monotony, yet the elder never had. It was like, for all practical purposes, the human couldn't move on. That enough of him had died in the transition that the most he'd ever felt like doing was putting up the various sections of "Times Square" and then promptly falling fast asleep under the main lamppost. While standing, no less.

Spekkio had accepted it for a time. But then they'd showed up.

Crono and his friends. Geeky with the glasses. Blondie. The tin man, the walking ribbit, the amazon…

They'd come to the End of Time like all things aside from Spekkio and the old man had. By pure accident. Well, not exactly an accident…There'd been four of them trying to use a time gate, which didn't work according to the…

"Frackit." Spekkio mumbled. 

"Eh? Say what?" The old man spoke up suddenly. The pink Nu scratched at his only tuft of hair and didn't reply.

They'd wanted to stop Lavos.

_Stop Lavos. Pssh._

And yet, for all the doubts that the old man and Spekkio might have had at first, there was something about them. The glow in their eyes…how their spirits shone brightly with purpose.

Time had already written it. In 1999 A.D. Lavos would rise up and cause the Apocalypse in what would be known as the Day of Lavos. Mankind would be pushed into tiny populations in domes with no hope, no future. And eventually, the robots would take over, and humanity and all natural life on Earth would die entirely.

It had been written. It was accepted as fact. A dismal fate that existed, because nobody could stop it from happening.

And then they'd showed up. They would stop Lavos.

When they showed up with nothing but a glaring promise deep in their hearts…Spekkio saw the old man start to live again.

It was hope that drove these humans, Spekkio had decided then. As long as they had hope, nothing else mattered. Hope was more important than even air to them. Remove hope, and…

Well, the humans in 2300 A.D. were a perfect example. Merely passing along in a meaningless existence, silently waiting for the end to come. A world of grays.

And now Crono was dead. They had gotten to Lavos, all right…In the Ocean Palace, Lavos had been summoned forth.

The energies of his coming were so intense that it blinded the old man's and Spekkio's ability to watch events unfold. Eventually, it had cleared up, but it was too late by then.

_So Crono's dead._ Spekkio chided himself. _Fine. Spiky got in over his head. He got overconfident, he went too far too soon. He reached for the sun and his wax wings burned off._

He'd died saving the rest of them. But…

Now, it seemed as though all their hopes were dashed. Spekkio shut his eyes and shook his head.

_He died saving them. But without him…they lost the very thing that kept them together. Someone to put their hopes in. Someone to believe in._

And now 3/5ths of the survivors were in the hands of a madman unleashed upon a world so ravaged it could offer no resistance. Another was stuck here, yawning and wondering when she could start a bonfire and roast Reptites, and blondie…

_Well, I guess Blondie's suffered the most, eh? _Spekkio thought drily. _Yet another reason why I stay single. That and there isn't a foxy looking lady Nu around for a few million years._

Love. Yup, that was another mysterious thing about humans. It wasn't merely procreation. There was a commitment to it. Humans actually cared for one another before they got joined at the hip…For the most part, Spekkio corrected himself. In some quirky way, it was like love was a more intense and potent form of hope. A hope held between two people, that allowed them to face anything. True love. Not lust. But true love, love that not even time could destroy. 

Was there such a love between Crono and Marle? If there was…

_Well, then it doesn't really matter anymore. _

Spekkio turned to the elder, narrowing his eyes glumly.

_Great, you big oaf. Now you got ME stuck in glum mode. Thanks much!!_

But he couldn't say it out loud. 

Because the old guy was already fast asleep again, a big snotbubble evident. Spekkio rolled his eyes and looked back over to Ayla and then Marle again.

_Yeah, sure. I guess maybe you might have the right idea, boss._ He thought to himself.

_After you've lost all hope, I guess there's really nothing better to do than sleep away your eternity._

****

MAY 29, 12000 BC 

Lucca grinned as she picked up her gun. "Nice job." 

"Thanks." Frog commented drily. 

"I detect a 75% chance that we have explored all areas accessable to the duct. We should begin roaming the halls." 

The outside halls were a series of conveyer belts patrolled by purple soldiers and machines remniscient of the Bits in 2300 AD. There were several doors; the first one led to a room with three soldiers around a chest. 

"Of course." Lucca commented as she blew a head off. The scuffle was over quickly, and they opened the chest to find their money. "No wonder they were so interested." Lucca joked as they grabbed it. 

The rest of the rooms had nothing of interest, and they eventually headed through the two guards at the back to find another series of halls. 

"With our luck, it'll be in the last one." Frog sighed. The first room they went in held a treasure chest, unguarded, and another door in the back. 

"I'm not even gonna say anything." Lucca smirked as she reattached Robo's parts. Frog frowned. 

"This be almost too easy... but oh well. Through the door!" 

*** 

"Remind me again why we're out here!" Lucca shouted over the wind as they crawled across the wing. 

"If we find one of the jets, we may be able to disable it and force the wing to land." Robo replied. "Another Turret. Sir Frog?" Frog grunted and jumped towards it. 

"Robo, have you noticed something?" Lucca asked as Frog battled it. 

"What something would you be referring to?" Robo replied. 

"Before the Blackbird, we were all depressed over Crono. But as soon as we got on, it's like we're back to normal mentally. What's going on?" 

"It is simple. The human mind tends to dwell on negative emotions while it is idle. When it is busy, those emotions are usually put aside until later. In layman's terms, you are grieving less because you have something to do." 

"I suppose that makes sense." Lucca mused. "But what about you, Robo? You're not human." 

"Correct. I am a robot, therefore I have no emotions. I cannot grieve." 

"I'm not so sure about that..." Lucca muttered softly as Frog returned. 

"I hath seen something that resembles the jet you described, Sir Robo. It is this way." 

"Not so fast!" The voice sounded horrid, as if the person talking was actually chewing on the words. Robo jumped in the air. 

"Oh my! A tremendous magical presence is approching!" As he spoke, a large, black hole appeared with something big and ugly moving inside. 

"Not again..." Lucca groaned. However, this Golem was red, not yellow. It glared fiercely as it emerged. 

"I'm the GolemBoss, and your days are numbered!" 

"It talks?!" Frog choked. 

"You bet I talk! And I do more than that! Chew on this! 5-4-3-2-1-... um..." It caught a glimpse over the side, blanched and turned back to them. "Um... where was I? Oh, yeah! 5-4-3-... ah..." It shuddered uncontrollably and crouched, covering its face with its hands. "Oh... no! This can't be! I'm... I'm afraid of heights!" 

Lucca rolled her eyes and sent a Fire 2 at Robo, who absorbed it and sacked the GolemBoss, sending it flying over the edge. 

"EEEEARGH!" 

*** 

"Mwa ha ha ha! The Aero-Dalton Imperial is complete!" Dalton gloated as he climbind into the cockpit. One of the mechanics pressed a button, and heroic, uplifting music filled the air. Dalton nearly barfed. "No, no, NO! STOP THE MUSIC!" The mechanic pressed anoher button and the tune changed to a fierce, predatory tone. "Ha! That's better!" The hangar door slowly opened, and Dalton soared out, ignoring the fact that the jets incinerated the unfortunate mechanics. 

*** 

Frog looked over the side and did a classic jawdrop as the Epoch flew by. "Epoch... it's flying!" 

"It's flying?!" Lucca screamed. 

"It's not Epoch! It's the Aero-Dalton Imperial!" Dalton yelled as he leveled with the wing. "You three are excess baggage! Make like the wind and blow out of here!" Grinning wickedly, he pressed one of the buttons and cackled as the new laser ripped into the Blackbird's wing... completely missing the three. Frog drew his sword. 

"We must stop this, now! Tallyho!" With a mighty leap, he jumped onto the hood of Epoch, dragging an angry Lucca. Robo pulled himself up with a Rocket Punch as Dalton fumed. 

"You dare...! FINE! I'll finish you myself! Take this!" Angrily, he sent a Ki wave straight at Lucca, who took it and grinned. 

"Take a look at this, you egomaniac! FIRE 2!" The twin lines of fire went straight into Robo instead of expanding, and in the same technique used on GolemBoss, he released it in a bone-crunching tackle. Dalton reeled, but did not falter. 

"Fire, eh? OPPOSITE ATTACK!" In a familiar move, Ice 2 crashed into them, knocking them flat for a moment. Laughing, he followed it up by sending a series of energy balls at Frog. The noble knight just growled. 

"We are not done with thee yet, varlet! WATER!" The target was not Dalton; instead, it encased Robo and carried him over the foe, then dropped his 300-pound weight straight onto his head. Dalton was not amused. 

"OPPOSITE ATTACK!" Echoing Lucca's previous move, the Fire 2 knocked Robo off him and brought the other two to their knees. 

"Frog! Lucca!" The robot gasped, then grunted as a huge steel orb flattened him. Dalton got back to his feet and began laughing. 

"HA HA HA! You're toast, fools! Just like that red-wigged brat! Don't you know better than to pick fights with somebody stronger than you? He sure didn't, and look what it got him! A one-way ticket to heaven!" 

"SHUT UP!" Dalton stopped laughing and stared at the angry Robo, who ripped a piece of machinery out of Epoch and jammed it into his arm. 

"Auto-Integrate new hardware! Set Rocket Punch to rapid-fire! Speed 110%! Power 110%!" Dalton blinked, uncomprehending. 

"What the hell does that mean?" Robo jumped straight in front of him, his eyes glowing red. 

"It means THIS, human bastard! UZI PUNCH!" Frog and Lucca stared as his fist smashed into Dalton's face over and over again, hundreds, thousands of times. It was if all of their rage at Crono's death was being channelled into the robot and his fist of fury, delivering a truly brutal beating onto the despot's mug. 

When Robo stopped, his fist actually smoking, Dalton's face bore almost no resemblance to its former looks. His cheeks were a mess of blood, his lips were split in several places, he had several missing teeth and both eyes were black. Furious, he spat out a tooth and created a black rip. 

"GolemBoss! KILL!" But nothing happened. "WTF?!" 

"We already met GolemBoss, jackass." Lucca explained. "He decided to go bungee jumping. Unfortunately for him, he forgot the cord." 

"What?! No!" Dalton screamed. "If there's nothing to pull out of my pocket dimension, it reverses! AIIIEEEE!" He let out a despairing howl as he disappeared into the hole, which closed behind him with a tiny pop. 

*** 

"That groundling thief!" Frog grumbled. Lucca was thinking of something else, though. 

"Robo, what WAS that?!" She asked. Robo blinked. 

"I... do not know. Something... unfamiliar." 

"I think... it was anger." The scientest said slowly. 

"Negatory. Robots cannot feel emotions." 

"Wrong. You've already felt despair. I recognized it. Now you've encountered anger as well." Robo gripped his head, agonizing over the logic struggle. 

"Th... this is impossible! But..." 

"AHEM!" Frog coughed loudly. They both turned to him. "I believe we doth have a more serious problem. Namely, Epoch!" Lucca choked, her hands going to her mouth. 

"More importantly, did he change the controls?!" They jumped into the cockpit... and collided. After rubbing their heads, they did it again, aiming for the correct seats this time. The instruments were unfamiliar. 

Lucca cursed in russian before checking the dashboard, then turned to Frog, who was at the helm. "Hit the Y Button, quick!" He firmly obeyed, and the lasers under the wings sprung to life, to everybody's shock. Uncontrolled, the beams of destruction ripped into the Blackbird, but this was beyond the heroes's notice. 

"Now try the X Button!" Lucca cried. Dubiously, Frog pressed it, and the dashboard changed shape, shifting into the familiar layout. The sighs of relief were interrupted by a loud rumbling as the Blackbird's right wing exploded, sending the aeroplane straight into the frigid ocean! 

Below, the people cheered as the last of the ship went under. "YEAH! Justice! Dalton got what he deserved!" The Elder looked up and gasped as he saw Epoch. 

"Whoa! That ship can fly too?!" 

Back above, Lucca grinned. "Phew! Now I can handle it!" Frog began laughing. 

"Amazing! I almost cannot believe it, but we are actually in that varlet's debt! Although I doubt he shalt ever be in a position to claim it..." 

"It needed a remodel anyway!" Robo said. Lucca stared at him. 

"Robo? Was that... a joke?" His reply was cut off by the rush of the engines as Frog landed the machine in front of the village. 

"There will still be soldiers at the village! We must liberate the people, post haste!" 

"What the-?" Lucca murmured. The people looked absolutely fine, and there wasn't a soldier to be seen. The Elder quickly stepped up to them. 

"While you were out, the soldiers tried to keep us in slavery. However, after a couple hours, a man came who none of us had ever seen before. He slaughtered the soldiers, then gave us a message for you... 'Meet me at the North Cape. And no tricks!'" 

"Hmm... it doth sound like a trap to me." Frog grumbled. Lucca just laughed. 

"Ha! Come on, Frog, we can do this easy!" 

"Well, all right..." The knight conceded. 

****

MAY 29, 0000 XD 

If Marle had noticed Spekkio sauntering over in his guise as an Omnicrone, mace foregone for a mug of some unknown liquid, she certainly didn't show it.

The self-proclaimed "Master of War" blinked a few times before taking a deep swig of his mug and clearing his throat.

"Looks like you need to get drunk." He finally muttered. Marle looked up at last, confusion evident.

"What?" Spekkio snorted and smiled a bit, although he knew she couldn't see it.

"Looks like you need to get REALLY drunk." He corrected himself. Marle shook her head and stared back down to the dimly lit cobblestone ground.

"Liquor wouldn't help." She said softly. Spekkio laughed.

"Of course it is! Homer Simpson said it best, blondie! Here's to alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

The glare she finally shot back at him quelled what little freewheeling was left in his spirit. "Or not." 

_I guess in this case that saying doesn't apply. Hell, if Lavos could be destroyed by alcohol, he'd be dead by now. Because there's always been plenty of drunks in the world._

"Just what do you want, Spekkio?" Marle queried tersely.

"To get your head screwed on straight, first of all." Spekkio snuffed. "And we can't do that until you've stopped the five step grieving process."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marle said shortly, bowing her head a bit to try and hide her puffy red eyes. Spekkio harrumphed for a moment, then held up a fist, and then extended his thumb.

"Well, that's denial…" His response seemed to set Marle off further, as she finally stood up and glared at him.

"Goddamn it Spekkio, what are you trying to pull here?!" The Omnicrone blinked its beady eye underneath its helmet and lifted its index finger.

"Hmm…Well, we've moved onto anger. Keep it up, blondie!"

"Keep WHAT up?!" Marle demanded, taking a step towards him.

"Go ahead, admit it." Spekkio goaded her. "Crono was more than a friend. You loved the guy! Your heart beat for him! All your hopes and dreams were in him, eventually!"

"You don't know what you're talking about…" Marle choked out, her vision growing blurry as she clenched her hands up. Spekkio snorted.

"Listen, beautiful. I've been around a WHOLE LOT longer than you, and I know how this whole shebang works. And by the way, you slipped back into denial."

Off in another corner of the cobblestone square, Ayla watched the ensuing argument with interest. She worked up enough nerve, and then walked over to the old man in the center.

"OLD MAN!" Ayla shouted loudly in his ear. The snotbubble on his face popped as he snorted and came back to reality, shaking his head a few times before he realized who had addressed him.

"Oh, great. What do you want?" He grumbled. Ayla lifted her arm up and pointed to Spekkio and Marle.

"Look!" Ayla chirped. The elder looked for a few moments, then harrumphed.

"So. Spekkio's trying desperate tactics now, eh?" He lifted the rim of his bowler and looked at Ayla. "You should go over there, you know." The cavewoman looked at him blankly, causing him to sigh louder. "All right, it isn't this hard to understand. See Marle? Marle's heart is broken. You need to go help fix it." That message got through to her.

"Crono…it because Crono dead, Marle hurts." Her eyes grew a bit sadder, but she finally nodded her head. "Old man right."

"Old man always right." The elder chortled, shutting his eyes and quietly dozing back off to sleep.

"You gave us this power…you made us believe we actually stood a chance against Lavos!" Marle accused. The Omnicrone rolled its eye.

"Oh, give me a break. You want the truth, Marle?! The truth is this. YOU GUYS ATTEMPTED WAY TOO MUCH WAY TOO SOON. It was your own hotheadedness that killed Crono. It was your own idea. And even if I hadn't given you and the rest of your crew magic, you STILL would have tried. Only you wouldn't have lasted THIS long." Marle's arms tightened up, and a bright blue aura surrounded herself as her anger began to grow.

"Give Crono back…GIVE HIM BACK!!" 

Screaming, she slammed her palms outwards at him, blowing the Omnicrone backwards in a massive burst of ice magic. Spekkio grunted from the blow for a moment as he sprawled backwards against the fencing…then shimmered in light and caused a massive flash that blinded Marle and even Ayla for a moment.

When the light cleared, the Omnicrone was gone. In its place stood a massive blue version of Masamune, rubbing shards of ice off of its skin. Spekkio had once more changed form.

"Believe me beautiful, if it was in my power to bring Spiky back, I would." Spekkio grumbled. "But at this point, not even a Life 2 spell's gonna be able to pull it off. There's nothing left to rejuvenate. You saw it with your own eyes. He's dead…the only way Lavos knows how to kill off twips. Instant vaporization."

All of Marle's rage faded at that comment. Quietly, she slumped to her knees again and bowed her head.

"Here it comes..." Spekkio muttered to himself, quietly enough that Marle couldn't hear him.

But even if she could hear him, she wouldn't notice.

She'd tried to hold it in. She tried to think that it hadn't happened, that it was all some sort of sick joke...

_But it all happened. Crono's dead…_

And now the only sound Marle made was a slow sobbing, as the cobblestones beneath her slowly absorbed the teardrops she made.

It was at that moment that Ayla came by and smacked Spekkio in the back of the head, glaring angrily.

"Why you do that?! Make her feel worse, changing man!" Spekkio rubbed at the sore spot Ayla had given him and shook his head.

"No respect... Listen, my amazon queen. Marle was stuck in what us brilliant minds might call an emotional rut with no exit. I had to jar her out of it. It was the only way she could move on." Ayla harrumphed and folded her arms.

"Didn't need to be so tough." Spekkio shrugged.

"I've done all I can, and wish to. Another blast of that ice magic doesn't exactly feel too peachy right about now."

"Me help Marle then." Ayla said. Spekkio lifted a hand up and shrugged, walking back towards his room.

"Right. I'll be in battle central if you need me."

Ayla shook her head as Spekkio grunted and groaned to fit his much more massive bulk through the frame. He finally succeeded, exiting with a loud squishy 'pop' sound. The amazon shook her head again and turned to Marle.

"Ayla..." The princess began slowly. Ayla kneeled down beside her and nodded.

"Ayla here." She said gently. 

Marle merely kneeled there for a few more moments before breaking down completely. And somehow, Ayla knew why. And all she could do was hold Marle close as it finally worked itself out, as every last bit of the princess's frustration and her grief ebbed out of her like a river.

"It okay." Ayla said soothingly, stroking Marle's almost reddish blond hair back. Her head still buried in Ayla's shoulder, Marle sobbed a bit louder before speaking.

"It's not okay... Crono's dead... He promised me we'd all make it, but he lied…he died facing Lavos..."

Ayla said nothing, just continuing to hold Marle close and let her know she was with a caring presence. 

"I couldn't save him... And I just keep seeing him die there time and time again, vaporized by that monster's beam..."

"Marle must move on." Ayla finally said, brushing Marle's hair back again. 

"I miss him so much... Why did it have to be him?" The princess croaked, turning her tear streaked eyes to stare at Ayla.

The cavewoman shook her head.

"Crono died... to save you." She finally answered. "Crono would not want Marle to be sad. Crono would want Marle to move on."

"It hurts so much..." The princess said, as if the ache in her heart was felt through her entire body. She looked at Ayla, her eyes pleading. "When does the pain go away?"

"You loved Crono?" Ayla asked gently. Marle bowed her head low and shut her eyes.

There was only one answer her broken heart could give. The right one. 

_Ever since he came to save me from the Middle Ages... No, even before that, when Leene's Bell rang in the square when we met for the first time... _

"I... loved Crono more than anything... " Marle finally whispered.

_The way he smiled, the way he walked... how he was utterly silent half of the time, and how the other half he rallied us together... How he never gave up, would never let us give up... _

Marle, despite her penchant for ignoring the lessons her tutors tried to instill in her, was well versed in literature. And something that was almost as old as time itself was something used in Fiction over and over... 

_True love... a love that can never be broken, never be replaced... a love that spans all time, all reality, all space and all struggles... A love that is the most powerful drug known to humanity, a love that causes a person to do unbelievable things... _

"I loved Crono... with all of my heart." Marle finished. She looked up at Ayla, fresh tears springing to her face. "But Crono..."

"Crono loved you too." Ayla said with a gentle smile, holding Marle close in another hug.

The last of Marle's grief melted away, like one of her ice attacks left to linger for too long.

"Crono dead... but Crono still with you. Crono's love will never leave you. He in each one of us now. But he in you most."

"But what now?" Marle asked, saner than before, but still heartbroken.

"Crono dead... but other friends alive, in trouble." Ayla continued. "They still in Dark Age... big sky place fall down."

"What?"

"Angry man take them hostage... fly in big iron bird."

"Dalton... The Blackbird?!" Marle gasped in realization. Ayla nodded.

"Time to move on. Marle, we feel sad later. Right now... must get friends back safely."

Slowly, Marle nodded her head. 

There would be time for all of them. Time to mourn Crono's passing later. 

But the living were still here. And it was them that required the focus now. She could almost hear Crono's voice nearby, just out of earshot, a mere whisper in the passing wind.

_Be strong, Marle... _

Marle reached down for the pendant beside her... the pendant she'd given to Crono, the pendant that had somehow found its way on her, as if protecting her somehow.

_You have to keep going. _

Marle took in a deep breath and nodded.

"You think Spekkio can show us what's going on?" Ayla nodded vigorously.

"Changing man have magic talking box! We go see!" 

Ayla ran on ahead, leaving Marle to get to her feet and quietly look around the cobblestone square, floating in the mists of eternal nothingness.

The old man still remained under the lamppost, snoring away.

Calmly, Marle brushed aside the last few tears from her eyes, then clasped onto her pendant tightly.

_You're strong, Marle... You'll live through this._ Crono's voice seemed to call to her.

"I won't forget you, Crono." Marle said. Her eyes shone bright now, not with tears.

With purpose.

"I love you, Crono. I'll never stop loving you."

Time to move on.

For those still living. 

There was a new fire burning in Marle's spirit as she left the main square and wandered into Spekkio's room. A fire that caused the elder to snort, wake up, and stare after her.

"Huh..." He mumbled. "They never stop surprising me." 

****

MAY 30, 12000 BC 

It took them a day's hike to get to the North Cape. The Cape was a beautiful overlook of the ocean, but nobody was there. As the three reached the top, they heard a movement behind them, but when they turned, nothing was there. The group turned back to the ocean and jumped in surprise. Magus, looking over the calm sea. 

"Behold... all of it's at the bottom of the sea." The mage spoke bitterly. "Gone is the magical kingdom of Zeal, and all the dreams and ambitions of its people. Sunken by their own greed, fried by their own desire..." He turned to face them, his eyes haunted. "I lived there once... but I was another person then." 

**__**

MAY 13, 12000 BC 

"What's wrong, Lavos?" Zeal yelled at the unresponsive Mammon Machine. The three Gurus ignored her, studying instead the energies that coursed through the room. 

"Hm... it seems to be related to the fourth dimension!" Gaspar observed. Melchior cursed. 

"Damn! Such power is beyond human control! What were you thinking, Zeal?!" 

"Schala!" The three Gurus and Schala all turned to face the fourth comer, little Janus. As they did, there was a flash of red, and Lavos returned. One by one, the Gurus were sent, screaming, into black timegates. After they were gone, a fourth one appeared around Janus, and he disappeared, wailing. 

****

MAY 13, 990 AD 

"What's for breakfast?" Irvin asked his new wife cheerily. She smiled. 

"Eggs goldenrod." 

"Sweet!" As soon as he spoke, there was a massive crash, and Melchior tumbled out of the cupboard. Irvin facepalmed. 

"Shit. Shoulda known..." The man blinked. 

"Where am I?" Irvin's wife just sighed. 

"Great. First I get a scorpion in my shoe, and then my cupboard starts barfing humans. This is just gonna be one of those days..." 

"Awright, human!" Irvin piped up. "This is Medina Village, and the Mystics here all hate humans. In other words, you're in trouble if the others see you. How much money you got?" In response, Melchior poured his wallet onto the table. Irvin whistled. 

"Okay, we'll sneak you out of the village at night for 1000. You can build a house or something to the south. Do we have a deal?" 

"What choice do I have?" 

****

MAY 13, 2285 AD 

In a twisted, ruined world, a place called Bangor Dome spat out a single lost soul. Belthasar, the Guru of Reason, examined his surroundings and determined that it was Lavos's power that caused this. 

"I think I'm stranded here..." Belthasar admitted. "I'll need to look around and find someplace to set up shop. My top priority must be to finish my project... the Wings of Time... I wonder if my assistant is still active? Well, there's only one way to find out..." 

****

MAY 13, ???? ?? 

"WHOOOOAAA!!!" Gaspar, the Guru of Time, approached his destination in the most unique way of the four. At high velocity. He braced for impact, then blinked as he stopped completely. Gaspar slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Everywhere was nowhere; there was nothing but black, drifting haze. Gaspar's eyes bugged out. 

"I don't believe this... I'd never thought I would actually be here, but this can only be..." 

"BAAAANZAAAAIIII!!!!" 

****

MAY 13, 580 AD 

"AAAAIIIAARGH!" The plump young mystic flew through the tavern door and spun head over heels before eating tree, then sliding down into the dirt. The other patrons laughed jerringly and called out insults as the owner stepped into the doorway, emboldened by the support. It was his foot that had propelled the other through the exit. 

"You goddamn Mystics! Can't you read? No Animals Allowed!" Ozzie's ears perked up at this and he slowly rose, turning around. 

"I'm not an animal, you creep! What makes you think that you humans are any better than us Mystics?" 

"You goddamn animals..." The man sneered. "Never learn your place. Mystics are just shit, and you're not welcome here! Now beat it before I really get rough!" Ozzie tensed up, preparing to fry the bastard with a well-placed Lightning, but a voice stopped him. 

"Ozzie, forget it." It was Slash, one of Ozzie's childhood friends. Another voice piped up as well; Flea, the third member of the self-dubbed Terrible Trio. 

"I'll handle this, Ozzie." Ozzie grumbled, but retreated into the foliage. A moment later, after the owner had gone back inside, Flea stepped out. She had been born a human, but her family was abusive and the others in the neighborhood were brutal. At age 7, she had ran away into the forest, where she had met Slash & Ozzie. After hearing her story, they had agreed to let her join them. Now, ten years later, she could be easily be mistaken for a beautiful woman, her pointed ears the only indication of her transformation. 

"I'll get the beer for us. Those louts will be too busy staring to notice my ears." Flea frowned as she walked in; she HATED dealing with drunkards. Ordinary humans were bad enough. 

"Hey, baby. What'll you have?" The bartender leered. She ignored that. 

"Three cups of ale." 

"That's a lot for a little girl like yourself. Need somebody to help you with it?" 

"I'm fine." She said coldly, giving him the glare. He shrugged and poured her the mugs, which she took and walked towards the exit. As she did, one man more drunk than the rest grabbed her by the arm. She spun, eyes flaming. 

"Bastard! FIRE!" As the man's corpse smoldered, the others stared at her. The owner was the first to speak. 

"She's a Mystic! GET 'ER!" Flea bolted for the door as the men formed into an anrgy mob. She ran into the forest, joined by Ozzie & Slash. 

"I thought you said you would get the beer with no problems." Slash commented. 

"Shut it." 

"I HATE humans!" Ozzie snarled as they ran. "Always treating us like crap! Hell, they treat their DOGS better than us!" 

"Calm down, Ozzie." Slash said calmly. "One of these days, we'll get our payback. Just wait." 

"Yeah... hey, we should split up. Meet back at the hideout at midnight." They diverged. 

After an hour, Ozzie lost the last of his pursuers. Looking around, he saw a few Blue Imps playing, but nothing else. Or so he thought, until a black gate opened and dumped out a small human child. Ozzie grinned. 

"A human brat! I remember when I was a whelp and kids like you tried to use ME as a pinata! Hey, Imp-boys! Party's on!" The Imps obediently surrounded the kid, who recoiled in fear. 

"No! Get away! I said GET AWAY!" Screaming, he blasted them with an orb of darkness that incinerated them. 

Ozzie almost fainted. A human that can use magic without instruction? "Say, kid, you're pretty tough. What's your name?" 

"Janus. I'm a prince." 

But the king doesn't have any kids! Wait... maybe he's from a far-off country! Yeah, that's it! "How do they treat Mystics where you come from, kid?" Janus was obviously confused. 

"Mystics? What are those?" For the second time, Ozzie was flabbergasted. 

He doesn't know what Mystics are? Wow... wait, this means that in his country, there's none of the bullcrap that goes on here! Hm... I see big possibilities for this kid... "Come along, kid! I've got a couple friends I want you to meet..." 

*** 

"Okay, lemme get this straight." Slash grumbled. "This human brat can use magic, but he's from a far-off kingdom where there's no Mystics. So there's none of this crap there. Now, you want this kid to lead us in a revolt." 

"That's the gist of it." Ozzie said calmly. 

"ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND?!" Slash screamed. "THERE'S NO WAY THE OTHER MYSTICS WILL FOLLOW A HUMAN!" 

"Actually, I disagree." Flea said. "We'll just have to spend a few years teaching him the ropes. I was human once, as you'll recall. Give him 10 years, and all the magic we know, and he'll be perfect." 

"Hm..." Ozzie mused. "All the magic we know? All the other Mystics, including us, are confined to one element... If he can use everything, he'll be the most powerful Mystic in existence!" 

"I get it." Slash smiled. "With all this power, the other Mystics will flock to him like sheep! We'll have an army, and we'll teach those stuck-up bastards a lesson they'll never forget!" 

****

MAY 30, 12000 BC 

"So... thou art that filthy urchin!" Frog snarled. Magus ignored him. 

"Throughout my entire war, my main focus was always Lavos. With every town we conquered, I went straight to the library and dug up all the information on Zeal there was. But there wasn't much, obviously. It took me many years to find enough to enact my revenge." He smiled faintly. "After a while, Ozzie found out about Lavos, but the fool thought I was summoning him to destroy the humans. I let him spread that story among the other Mystics; it encouraged them to bring any info to me. After I had found all I needed, I was going to summon and kill him, but you guys came and screwed it all up." He frowned again. "How ironic that I'd be warped back here. I dredged up my childhood memories and was able to convince my mother that I was a wandering prophet. But nothing could have prepared me for what you all did." The dark sorcerer turned to face the group, his face blank. "The power of Lavos... is unimaginable. All who face it shall meet certain doom. Just like that fool, Crono!" 

"You dare?!" Frog gasped. 

"He's history." Magus continued, his face still oddly calm. "Play with fire, and you get burned." 

"Magus! Holdeth thy tongue!" Frog practically screamed. 

"You wish to fight me again? For keeps this time?" Several tense moments passed, as all four of them waited on Frog's answer. The tension was so thick you could cut it and serve it with whipped cream and strawberries. Finally, Frog sighed and lowered the Masamune. 

"Nay... fighting will not restore Crono, nor Cyrus..." Magus said nothing. The three turned to leave and began walking away. 

"Wait." They turned back and saw him walking after them. "I'll come with you. I still owe Lavos one, and it looks like you have the best chance of squishing him." 

"Treachery!" Frog growled. Magus just shook his head, smiling with closed eyes. 

"You know, there just might be a way to bring him back." 

"Nonsense!" The knight spluttered, turning livid. 

"Gaspar, the Guru of Time, knows how to repair lost or misplaced time streams. And if I'm correct, your friend Crono..." He stopped. "Never mind that. But once he's back in action, with me on your side too, we'll be unstoppable. And you know it." 

"He's right, Frog." Lucca said. "We could use his help." 

"I detect at least a 20% increase in probability of success with his addition." Robo concurred. Frog looked for a moment like he was going to argue further, but he sighed and threw his hands up. 

"Fine! But one hint of backstabbing, and ye shall regret it timely!" 

"Same to you." 

*** 

Somewhat uncomfortably, they piled into the Epoch and took off. However, before they time-warped, Robo reported a malfunction. 

"It may be from that piece I ripped out while pummeling Dalton... if so, it will only take a moment to fix." 

"Dalton, eh?" Magus muttered, his eyes amused. "I never did like him... you have been busy, haven't you? You'll have to tell me about all this." 

"Later." Frog said shortly. Robo suddenly jumped and hit his head on the bubble cockpit. 

"Oh, my! I am detecting an enormous amount of spiritual power!" 

In the sea below, a massive form began to slowly rise, crackling with evil lightning. It broke through the sea and floated up towars the clouds, a monolith of black with electrical blue and red designs etched across the surface everywhere, along with so many defense cannons that a head-on attack would be suicide. 

"The undersea palace?! This is utterly impossible!" Magus choked. Frog's eyes came alight. 

"The ocean palace! Surely, it doth beckon us!" 

"Later." Magus threw his comment back in his teeth. "For now, Gaspar & Crono are more important." 

"Gaspar... I could swear I've heard that name somewhere before..." Lucca muttered as the Epoch flew around the entire world at light speed before vanishing in a blinding flash. 

__

Special Thanks to Erico for Marle's scenes in this chapter! 


	14. Chapter 13: He Had BETTER Not Wind Up A ...

**__**

Chapter 13: He Had BETTER Not Wind Up A Zombie... 

****

MAY 30, 0000 XD 

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Marle said slowly after freezing for several seconds. Spekkio harrumphed. 

"Yeeeep, he did. Figures. Not even death can keep that guy down." Further conversation was interrupted by the whirring sound announcing the arrival of the Epoch. Marle immediately ran out, bowled over the old man and pounced on Magus, pinning him to the ground. 

"Okay, buster, tell me everything you know about bringing Crono back. NOW!" Magus raised an eyebrow. 

"Psychotic blondes as the welcoming squad. Nice place you got here. Look, gal, I've already said all I know. For more info, you'll need to find Gaspar, the Guru of Time." 

"What?!" Everybody's eyes turned to the old man, who had yelled while getting to his feet. He frowned. "Gaspar... what do you think he can do?" 

"Bring Crono back!" Lucca yelled. The old man snorted. 

"That old wash-up? Hah! He couldn't even save Zeal... he's worthless! Trash! You'd just be wasting your time trying to get his help." 

"Well... we gotta try, right?" Marle countered somewhat lamely. 

"You'd keep on trying, even though you know there's nothing the guy can do?" 

"Aye." Frog nodded. "We must always try... we can never give up hope!" 

"Never give up hope, huh..." The geezer mumbled. "Looks like Crono's not really dead..." 

"WHAT?!" The entire group yelled at once. The old man didn't miss a beat. 

"Look at yourselves. Think about what you've been saying. Admit it. You're acting like him. The bum left his influence on all of yas, and you'll never get rid of it. He lives in you... and my instincts tell me that's all you'll get..." Several silent moments passed, before Marle spoke. 

"Well, we're going back out, at any rate. Robo, I'll swap with you." 

"I'm going as well." Magus said. "I want to see this with my own eyes." 

"Very well then." Frog said, a little irritated at the mage's continued presence. "Shall we be off?" 

As they were about to leave, the old man suddenly sprung to life again, mumbling to himself. "...Poor fools... maybe I could... no, there's no meaning... or, are they different... no, they're not, it'll never work... Ah, HELL with it... hey, come back here for a second!" They did, and he rummaged around in his trenchcoat for a moment before producing a small, golden egg. 

"An egg?" Marle whispered. 

"Call it... the Chrono Trigger. It's powered by pure potential. Use this at the appointed time, and if the fates... and your own wills... are strong enough..." His voice faded away, and he just handed it to Marle. "It may not work... but it's the only chance you've got. Your chances are equal to your hope..." Nobody spoke, until Magus began chuckling softly. 

"I get it... it's you, isn't it?" Frog's eyes lit up. 

"So.. thou art Gaspar, the Guru of Time!" Gaspar shifted awkwardly. 

"Ah... yes, I believe people did call me that... it's been a long time, Janus. Ahem... at any rate, ask my old colleague, the one who built the Wings Of Time, how to use it..." 

"Gotcha!" Marle led the charge to the Epoch, and as they left, Spekkio squeezed through the door. 

"Dammit, why do I always miss things?" Lucca frowned at him. 

"When I last left, she was in a complete mess. But now, she's as perky as ever. What happened?" 

"Well, for one, I talked it over and helped her move past her grief... most of it, at any rate. That's part of it. The rest... you can get by yourself. For you humans, grief is strongest when you're idle to think about it. When you're on the move... doing something... grief recedes." Lucca ahhed as Spekkio jerked a thumb at the again-sleeping Gaspar. "That's what HIS problem is. He's been here for so long, his depression has totally covered him. I used to think nothing could bring him out of it..." 

"Used to?" Lucca asked. The shape-shifter nodded. 

"I'm not so sure anymore. Leave it at that. While we've been talking about all this shiznit, we're missing Gundam Wing, which is what I came out here to... OOFF!!!" Spekkio was rudely shoved aside by the two-girl stampede, followed sedately by Robo. The Master of War rubbed his head. "...to tell you in the first place... lousy humans." 

****

MAY 30, 2300 AD 

"Eh?" Belthasar blearily opened one eye. "Bring somebody back from the dead?" 

"That's right." Marle confirmed. 

"Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. You'd need a Chrono Trigger, and if you've got one, my name's Juan Carlos Rodriguez Jalapeno III." 

"Very well... Juan Carlos, was it?" Frog smiled as he produced the egg. The Nu's eyes went wider than usual, which the group had thought was impossible. 

"Huh... well, besides that, you'd need a clone." 

"A what?" Asked Frog, who had slept through Star Wars Episode II. Belthasar rolled his eyes. 

"A completely lifelike dummy of the person. Without it, it no work. Now scram!" 

"Okay, next question." Magus asked from his position in the corner. "Where do we GET a clone?" 

"Norstein Bekkler. That's all I'm saying... hell, it's all I CAN say. GOOD NIGHT!" The Nu firmly shut its eyes and began snoring. Frog sighed and turned to face the other two. 

"The name is unfamiliar to me." 

"Me too." Magus growled. "We're out of luck..." Marle, however, was thinking hard. 

"Norstein Bekkler... I know I've heard that name before..." Something to do with... Crono? Yes... definately... now, was it before or after Zeal? Before, I think... and before Magus too, which means it would be around the very beginning... what strong memories do I have of that time... "The fair!" She shouted. "Norstein Bekkler runs a stall in the Millenial Fair, from mine & Crono's time!" 

"A carnie? We're looking for a carnie?" Magus scoffed. "This is an odd group, to be certain... well, let's get on with it..." 

****

MAY 31, 1000 AD 

"Okay, we're gonna need to grab Crono's silver point card." Marle informed them as they walked towards the village from their parking spot in the forest. No sense in alarming the townsfolk, after all. 

"And why is this, may I ask?" Frog inquired politely. 

"It's complicated. If I sat down to explain it, we'd be here all night." 

"Take her word on it." Magus said shortly. "Although it's interesting that they still use the silver point system... maybe they skipped your time with it, knight." Frog growled a few choice obscenities about mages under his breath and let it drop. 

"All right, last I saw it, Crono left it in his room. We'll want to avoid his mom if possible, for obvious reasons, so we'll probably go through the window." By now, they had gotten to the house, and Frog peered through he downstairs window. 

"We art in luck. She hast a visitor... oh, my!" 

"What is it?" Marle asked. Frog shook his head sadly. 

"The visitor lady... both her legs are horribly maimed... she cannot walk." 

"Psst... over here!" Both of them turned to see Magus gesturing at a large pine tree. "We can climb this." 

As they did, Marle slapped her forehead. It was the wrong room. They went in anyway, and Marle groaned. The theme song from one of Spekkio's shows, Mission Impossible, was playing in her head. Forcing herself to concentrate, the princess led the way to Crono's room. 

"There... on the desk!" Magus pointed. Sure enough, the silver point card was there-as was a furry obstacle. The cat hissed a warning and bared its teeth. 

"Great. Now what doth we do?" Frog moaned. 

"I've got a solution..." Magus smiled. 

"NO! You are NOT killing Crono's cat!" 

"Fine, then, girl. YOU think of something." Magus sneered. Marle thought for a moment, then grinned. 

"Frog, check if Crono's mom & her guest are facing the fridge." 

A moment later, the knight called back, "They face away from it. What be thy plan?" 

"Use your tongue to open the fridge and grab some tuna!" Frog nodded and leaned over the rail. A moment later, he spat a can of tuna onto the floor, which Marle quickly grabbed and opened. 

"Here, kitty kitty! Do you want some tuna?" The cat's eyes lit up and it slowly moved toward her. Marle backed away until she was near the window, then opened it, put the can on the edge and moved. The cat eagerly jumped for it... and went out the window with a yowl. Marle eagerly grabbed the card, when... 

"What IS that racket? I'll go check, Lara..." The three froze as they heard Crono's Mom's voice. 

"Quick, we need to get out!" Marle hissed. 

"We can't go back to the other room or she'll see us!" Magus retorted. 

"So, we'll go out this window!" 

"But, there be no tree!" Frog protested. Marle just smiled. 

"Huh... nothing here..." Crono's Mom looked around the room a bit more, then shrugged and went back downstairs. On the ground outside, the three slowly peeled themselves off the ground. 

"Smooth." Magus commented. 

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" 

"I hath a question... we couldst we not just have used THY card, madame?" 

Marle's eye twitched. 

*** 

"Hey, you're Crono's friend, right?" The weird floating head addressed Marle. She nodded. 

"Yeah... that's why we're here." 

"What, did he get arrested again or something?" 

"No. He just came down with a bad case of dead." Magus cut to the chase. Bekkler scowled. 

"Well, SHIT. Not much I can help you with there." 

"Actually... you can. We need a clone of him." Marle said directly. His eyes widened. 

"Huh? Hey, clones are the prizes in the 40-point game... normally, I make them only match the person who's playing... but for Crono, I'll make an exception." He gestured, and as the points disappeared, a clone of Crono walked out of the grate in the back. "Mimic his movements to win the prize!" 

Marle stepped up, and immediately, the Clone raised his left hand. She followed suit. He raised his right hand. She raised her right hand. He laughed. She laughed. He looked surprised. She looked surprised. Left hand. Laugh. Surprise. Left hand. Surprise. Right hand. Right hand. Laugh. Left hand. Laugh. Surprise. Laugh. Surprise. Left hand. Rig-_no, no, NO!_

Frog and Marle winced as Marle fell flat on her face. Bekkler frowned. 

"...Close enough." The Clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. "I sent it to Crono's house. Now, move yer butts before I change my mind." 

"Here we go again..." Marle sighed. 

*** 

"No avoiding it this time... she's in there, making his bed." Marle whispered. 

"Let's go for the casual approach, then." Magus suggested. The other two agreed, and they walked in the front door. As they entered Crono's room, his mom turned to greet them. 

"Oh... you're Crono's friend... Marle, right? But who are these...?" Marle stepped forward. 

"Two more of his friends... Frog & Magus..." Crono's mom smiled. 

"Nice to meet you both. Now, how is he? He hasn't visited for a while..." Awkwardness hung in the air like a fog. 

_Quick, you moron, tell her he's fine! But I can't lie to her... would it be better to tell her her only son is DEAD? Come on, are you a princess or what?_ "Uh... he's doing fine. Great, in fact. He's just... got a touch of the flu, so he couldn't come with us today. ...Can we borrow this big doll?" 

"Of course, dear." Crono's mom nodded. "Tell him to behave, and I hope he gets better soon!" 

Magus silently picked up the clone and they walked out. As they left the village, Marle growled, "I feel unclean." They stowed the clone in the trunk and got in, heading for 2300 AD. As they did, Marle had one last thought. 

"Did I just hear a meow?" 

****

MAY 31, 0000 XD 

"What wrong?" Ayla asked quizzically as Lucca walked towards the exit. 

"Nothing... nothing's wrong. I just... don't wanna watch this right now." As soon as she was gone, Spekkio raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. And I'm a flaming monkey." 

****

MAY 31, 2300 AD 

"Look, you idiots, I already told you...!" Belthasar broke off as Magus shoved the clone in his face. The Nu blinked for a moment, then stood up. "Enough of this. It is time for you to climb Death Peak. It is the only chance you have of reviving your friend. As my final work, I poured my own essence into creating three creatures. They shall help you." The Nu solemnly strode into the back room. Strange, mechanical noises accompanied by flashes of blue lightning came from the room, and something emerged. They all stared. 

"Executing program!" The little blue poyozo doll chirped before soaring through the roof. Two more, exactly identical, followed before the Nu reemerged. 

"This completes my purpose. Now, I have a favor to ask. This is the last recording I have made on this creature. I ask you to let him sleep. The switch is on his stomach." Silently, Frog strode forward and flipped the switch, and the Nu stopped, becoming statuelike. 

"There's nothing more for us here." Magus said. "Let's leave." As they walked out, the mage paused for a moment and looked back at the inert Nu. _Farewell, Belthasar._

*** 

"So that's Death Peak..." Marle murmured, staring up at the immense, purple crag. The mountain was almost completely unclimbable, with sheer, jagged surfaces promising a horrible fate for any unlucky enough to fall on them. Blinding snowstorms raged across the entire mountain. Only one narrow trail, covered in white snow, began at the base and led a winding path upward. As they climbed up, they saw the first little blue Poyozo doll. 

"Hide behind trees when the wind blows, and move when it breaks." As it spoke, it began glowing, and with a flash, it transformed into a dead tree. 

"What do ye suppose he meant by that?" Frog wondered. The other two shrugged. A moment later, the meaning became clear; seemingly out of nowhere, a huge gust of wind swept them off the mountain! 

"Ptoo." Magus spat out a clod of dirt. "Okay, now we know what to do. Hide behind that tree when that infernal wind attacks." On their return trip, the dead tree was still there, its branches glistening with snow. They stood behind the trunk, and somehow, the wind did not affect them! When it died down, they moved ahead to where they saw another tree, which they used similarly. After the second blast of wind, the three passed through a narrow gorge and up higher, where the wind bothered them no more. 

"What is that?" Marle commented of the creature before them. It was a sphere of an ugly yellow color. Near the top, a crack ran all around, making the top seem like a lid. The two parts were connected by a tarlike red substance. 

"A Krakker!" Magus groaned. "They're just one of the monstrosities spawned by Lavos's sick imagination!" Angrily, the mage sliced it in half with one blow of his scythe. As they continued up the path, several more Krakkers got in their way, and were sliced, shot and cleaved. Eventually, the group found a open area, which appeared to be a frozen pond. The wall backing the peak had a single cave entrance, and to the right of that was a high ledge. 

"In the cave." Frog said curtly. As they started in, Marle heard an eerie sound behind her, and turned to see two floating skeletons, each with an evil-looking scythe! 

"AAA! Guys!" The men turned to see her trying to beat off the skeletons with her bow, unsuccessfully. Two slashes later, the danger was averted. Magus bent and examined one of the discarded scythes. 

"Hmph... this appears to be of a good make. Pity it's so rusted. I'll have to keep my eyes out for one that's not in such bad condition." 

As they entered the cave, there was a horrendous roar, and something crawled towards them... 

"LAVOS!" Frog screamed, in the tone you would scream "HURRICANE!" or "EARTHQUAKE!" Magus shook his head. 

"Nonsense. Look how small it is. That can't be Lavos!" 

"It's name is... Lavos Spawn Ammes!" Marle yelled. "Whatever you do, do NOT attack the shell! Only the head!" 

"Rightyo!" Frog affirmed before jumping into the air and coming down with a Leap Slash. The monster bit him, and with a startled oath, he jumped back. 

"Well, I won't need to go near you for my attack, beast! DARK BOMB!" The level-1 shadow spell created an orb of darkness around the head, which promptly exploded. Ammes was NOT amused; with a rumbling, it cast a remarkably similar spell of firey red energy. Magus grunted. 

"Hey, you two! Get off yer butts and help! Might I suggest that combined blue magic you used on me?" Frog and Marle glanced at Magus, then each other. 

"ICE WATER!" A bubble with an ice crystal in it floated across the room and slammed into the head, causing the creature to shriek in pain. Magus seized the moment and slashed the creature across the "face", finishing the job... but as a last gesture, the creature used its biting counterattack again, snapping the mage's scythe into pieces. A moment later, the head and innards melted, leaving behind an empty shell. Without anything to support it, the shell collapsed inward in a pile of spikes. 

****

MAY 31, 0000 XD 

Lucca frowned, trying to get rid of her depression. She couldn't let the others know about... that. To distract herself, the scientest gazed over at the recently-revealed Guru Of Time, sleeping again. Narrowing her eyes, she yelled, "HEY, OLD MAN!" 

"Eh... whu?" Gaspar sputtered awake. "Oh... it's you, science girl. Waddaya want?" 

"Do you think they can do it?" Lucca demanded. Gaspar shrugged wearily. 

"Maybe they can, maybe they can't. It doesn't make a difference." 

"WADDAYA MEAN, it doesn't make a difference?!" Lucca almost screamed. "We have to get Crono back so we can beat Lavos!" 

"You already tried that, remember? It didn't work out so good, as I recall." Gaspar snapped. "As a matter of fact, you got your asses handed to you! What makes you think the next time's gonna be any different?" 

"Next time... we'll be stronger, more skilled..." 

"BULLSHIT. Nobody can beat Lavos. The world dies in 1999, and you can't do diddly squat about it." 

"You're a cynic." She accused. 

"Hmph. YOU try hanging around here for the better part of a century and see what it does to you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep more." 

"Can't face the future?" Lucca couldn't resist a parting shot. 

"This coming from a gal whose friend got disintegrated by a BUG." He returned. 

****

MAY 31, 2300 AD 

After the Lavos Spawn battle, they had gone through the cave to an icy walkway, which led to another tunnel. After that... 

"This is that ledge we saw!" Marle realized. "But... this is a dead end..." 

"Great. You're telling me I lost my good scythe for nothing?" Magus growled. "Just peachy." He turned to leave, and after a moment, so did Frog. Marle was about to follow when she saw something sparkling on the ground. 

"Hold on a sec." She bent down. It was a shining stone, sticking up from the ground at an odd angle. "Huh." The princess cautiously laid a hand on it, and the thing sank into the snow. A moment later, on the wall with the two cave entrances, a third one opened between them, on the open area below. 

"Nice eyes, lass." Frog complimented her as they headed back. When they were walking back along the icy path, though, Magus suddenly began looking around. 

"Trouble!" A moment later, three shapes materialized; Macabres, the skeleton spirits they had seen earlier. 

"We be surrounded!" Frog cursed. The mage smiled. 

"Don't worry, toad. I'll handle this. I may not have my scythe... but I can still handle a cremation! FIRE 2!" The raging red attack obliterated all of the undead, and the group pressed on. The new cave was a straight passage through. As they walked, Marle heard a squishing noise above her, and looked up to see a Krakker drop from the ceiling and latch on to her face! 

"AAAACK!!! GETTITOFF!!!" 

_It's too close to use magic;_ Magus thought grimly. _Where's a scythe when you need one... aha!_ Magus bent down and picked up the object he had spied; one of the scythes used by the Macabres, in very good condition. He quickly rushed over and sliced the thing off, leaving a frightened Marle. 

"Ahh... um, thanks, Magus." 

"Don't strain yourself." The mage said sourly. "I didn't want the egg damaged. Otherwise I woulda let the toad do it." He strode ahead while Marle stared at him, then muttered a few unprincessly comments under her breath before following. 

When they exited the cave, another Lavos Spawn was waiting for them. 

"Lavos Spawn Echuilles!" Marle shouted. "It's identical to the first!" 

"Perfect." Magus responded as he ripped out a Dark Bomb. "Use the same tactics." This Lavos Spawn, however, was having none of that; it opened its mouth and let out a massive sigh which formed into a wavy purple mist, encasing Marle. A moment later, the princess dropped off into a deep slumber. 

"Curses! It appears I shalt have to rely on my blade! LEAP SLASH!" The Masamune passed through its head, but Ecchuilles remained alive, and began gnawing on his leg. With a startled oath, Frog hacked at it until it dropped him, and Magus finished it off with another Dark Bomb. 

*** 

"Hey, it's another one of those little poyozo doll thingys." Magus called out. "Let's see what it says." 

"It's slippery!" The doll announced. "Fall and you're in big trouble!" 

"I wonder what it-oh." As soon as it stopped talking, the constant snowstorm had lessened until they could see ahead; a narrow walkway completely iced over. Marle glanced over the side and shuddered. The spiky crags below promised a dire punishment for falling. 

"This doth look very dangerous." Frog cautioned. "We wouldst be at great risk if we attempted crossing." 

"For once, I agreed with the toad." Magus muttered. "We'd have to be crazy to try that." Marle frowned. 

"So we're crazy. I'm fine with that. You can go back if you want, but I'm doing it. For Crono." With that, she started across. 

"For Crono." Frog repeated, and followed her. Magus just watched them, then muttered something about idiots and followed. 

*** 

"What the-?!" Frog grumbled. After they had passed the slippery area, there was a cliff at the top of the steep downward hill. Krakkers were falling off the cliff and then sliding down the hill like so many skiers. 

"I wonder what's up there..." Marle mused. She started towards it, but Magus held her back. 

"Think about it. Krakkers are created by Lavos. Now, do we want to pick a fight with him and get killed, or do we want to ignore him and follow the path to our goal?" 

"Point made." Marle said, a little snippy, and the three slid down the hill. When they stopped, they were overlooking the place where they had started. The third and last poyozo doll was waiting for them. 

"Push the shell, climb the shell..." It murmured. None of the three could figure it out. However, their attention was soon focused on other things, as another Lavos Spawn charged to the attack!

"Lavos Spawn Geneaux!" Marle yelled. "It's the eldest of the three, and the strongest!" 

"Save the worst for last. Figures." Magus grunted as he attacked with his scythe. Geneaux retaliated with the same purple haze that had put Marle to sleep earlier. However, on the mage it seemed to have no effect! 

"What's that all about?" Marle asked as she cast Haste on Frog. 

"Schala's Amulet protects me from most ailments." Magus called back. 

"LEAP SLASH!" Frog came down on the head, which seemed to anger Geneaux, as it fired a stream of brown gas at him! 

"He's confused!" Marle whispered as they watched the knight wobble around unsteadily. "He'll attack anything!" It turned out she was right; however, Frog did not attack either of them. He attacked Geneaux... more specifically, the shell! 

"NO!" Magus yelled, but it was too late. As the Masamune bit deep, the spines on the shell stood straight up and fired a deadly barrage of needles that descended onto the three. The only positive point was that it awakened Frog, who joined with Marle for an Ice Water. 

"Tell your brothers we said hi." Magus quipped before using a Dark Bomb to finish up. Unlike the previous two, Geneaux's shell did not disintegrate, but stayed there, lifeless. 

"Now what?" Magus demanded. "The path leads to that cliff. Any ideas on how to get up there?" 

"Push the shell, climb the shell..." Marle mused, echoing the poyozo doll. "That's it! We push Geneaux's shell over to the wall and climb it up!" 

"Wilt that work?" Frog asked doubtfully. 

"No reason why it shouldn't!" The three began pushing, and soon had it up against the wall. Marle's calculations were true; the spines made excellent hand-and-footholds. Within a few minutes, they had climbed up, and they could see bright sunlight ahead. Magus nodded. 

"It worked. The peak awaits!" 

MAY 31, 0000 XD 

Irritated about her last conversation with Gaspar, Lucca surveyed the room, looking for some method of revenge. After a moment, her eyes fell on the lamppost. _Aha..._ Taking aim, she shot out the bulb, and its glass fragments fell onto the Guru's sleeping head. 

"Ah! Ow! What the hell?" He shook the glass off and glared at the post. The bulb reformed, and he shifted his gaze to Lucca. "Cute. Now you're resorting to juvnile tactics." 

"This coming from an old geezer who just sits back and lets the world die around him." She said, echoing his previous quip. Gaspar's eyes narrowed even more. 

"Fine, then. If you're so smart, you tell me what I can do." 

"You're a Guru, right? I'm guessing they didn't give you that position for your charming personality." 

"I renounced those powers when I was sent here by Lavos." He responded gloomily. 

"Oh? And who told you that?" 

"Spekkio. At least I think that was it; he was mumbling something about a poker game. The gist of it was that technically I still have my powers, but I'll be in deep shit if I use them." 

"So what it comes down to is that you're scared of breaking the rules?" Lucca laughed mockingly. 

"Ha. Like it would make any difference if I did. You guys are four humans, a robot, a bipedal frog and a wierd mystic-human guy against a gigantic thing that can destroy the entire planet in less than a minute. Do you honestly think you stand a chance?" 

"Well, it's better than just sitting around here growing mold!" 

"Look, girl, you've already had one guy killed. Do you want the rest of yas to end up the same?" 

"If we don't the world's gonna go to shit anyways. What have we got to lose?" 

"You could just stay here. Nothing'll kill you here." 

"What the hell kinda life is that? Nothing to do... just sit here for all eternity?!" For once, Gaspar didn't respond. 

****

MAY 31, 2300 AD 

"So this be the top..." Frog murmured. The blinding snowstorms below did not exist up here; they had risen above the dark clouds that covered the planet, and the setting sun smiled its benediction onto the clean white snow. A single dead tree stood on the summit, but even that seemed less like a mark of death and more like a part of the land. Marle stood in front of the tree, with Frog and Magus flanking her. 

"We beg of you... all who dwell in the light and fight against the darkness..." She raised the Trigger above her head. "Please aid us... return Crono!" 

The Trigger began slowly flashing, then faster and faster, until it was a sphere of brilliant white light. All of their eyes were on it as the egg rose into the air and moved out over the sky beyond the mountain... and with a sound that they would remember as long as they lived, shattered. 

Nobody spoke as the fragments rained down and were lost in the murky clouds below. After several moments, Marle slowly sank to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably. Frog and Magus looked at each other, the same thought ringing in both their minds. 

_Her grieving was bad enough the first time... then she had her hope renewed, that he may not be gone forever... if she goes through the same thing again, it could be fatal this time!_

"Cowards!" Frog shouted angrily out over the skies. "Ye doth go back on your promise to the lass? And ye call yourselves spirits of good? Faugh!" 

"The toad's right!" Magus joined in. "The hell was THAT? You promised it would work, and now you're just saying 'Nah, I don't feel like it'? You oughta be the ones fed to Lavos!" Marle also raised her head, then got to her feet. 

"No! We tried so hard... CRONO!!! DON'T LEAVE MEEEEE!" 

**Rumble...** all three of them heard the massive, earthshaking noise that echoed across the skies. 

"Shit... did we wake up Lavos?" Magus demanded. Marle gasped. 

"No... it's something else... look!" The other two followed her gaze, and watched as the sun was completely eclipsed... not by the moon, but by something else. When the entire sphere was covered, there was a blinding flash... 

****

MAY 13, 12000 BC 

The three dropped onto the ground, then stared. They were in the Ocean Palace, right before Crono's death. Everybody was there... Lavos, Zeal, Schala, themselves... and Crono. But... 

"They be like stone statues..." Frog marveled. Magus gazed around, unbelievingly. 

"A time freeze... I never thought it possible..." He looked at his frozen self, lying on the floor. "A shame...we weren't able to change a damned thing with Zeal." His eyes then fell across Schala, and he said no more. 

"We'll just exchange the clone for Crono." Marle smiled as she hauled the hero out of the air, then positioned the doll where he had been. "Crono... we did it... he's alive!" 

"Save the hellos for later!" Magus grumbled. "We've got work to do." 

"Aye. This is an eerie place... let us withdraw quickly." Frog concurred. There was another blinding flash... 

****

JUNE 1, 2300 AD 

The first thing they saw was the tree... the snow in its branches sparkling with a brilliant light. The rest of the scene faded in around it slowly; the sunset had changed to a beautiful sunrise, shining light on the world below. The black clouds had momentarily faded, showing the entire ruined world the beauty of sunlight. Even the snowstorms on Death Peak had stopped. The peace was only momentary... but for now, it seemed the entire world was singing along with the group in joy. For Crono had returned. 

_Wha... what happened... _ Crono mused as he looked around. _Where am I... Frog... Magus?... and... Marle... _

"Crono how dost thou feel?" Frog asked softly. The teen gave him a weary grin. 

"Alive, Frog. Alive." The knight just smiled until Magus tapped on the shoulder. "Eh?" 

"Let's make ourselves scarce for a bit." Magus whispered, pointing at Marle, who was just staring at Crono, saying nothing. "They need to be alone." Frog nodded, and the two retreated. 

"Hey, Marle." Crono said slowly. "I can see you've been doing a lot... I thought I was a goner. And what's Magus... OOF!" Marle had grabbed him in a fierce hug and kissed him in the same motion. After the moment, which seemed to last forever, she smiled and lightly clonked him on the head. 

"You big lug! Don't you EVER do that again! We went through so much to get you back... first we... and then... and... HEY! Crono, are you even listening?" 

"Sorry, Marle... right now, all I want to do is look at you... you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." She smiled and kissed him again. 

"Oh, Crono... I missed you so much..." He slowly nodded. 

"That was the hardest part... knowing that I was letting you down... now that I'm back, though, I can promise you that I will never leave you again, Marle. And this time, I'll keep my promise... no matter what." He ran his hand through her hair. "Nothing will ever seperate us again..." 

"Promise?" 

"Promise. I love you, Marle, and nothing even Lavos can do will change that. And as long as we keep that in mind... nothing can seperate us." 

**Rumble... rumble...** Both of them looked up as their teammates ran back over. 

"No... we woke him up!" Magus cursed. Marle's eyes grew wide. 

"Lavos... no, this can't be! After all we went through... it can't end like this!" 

For a moment, death seemed inevitable... and then, with a flash, salvation arrived in the form of an old man in a trenchcoat and bowler hat. 

"HURRY! COME ON!" Gaspar urged. 

"But... I thought you said you couldn't do that!" Marle choked. Gaspar groaned and looked behind them. 

"SO I BROKE THE RULES! THAT DOESNT MATTER NOW! **MOVE!**" Marle ran in, closely followed by Magus and Frog. Crono was the last, and as Gaspar jumped back in with him, sealing it, he caught a glimpse... of a gigantic, warped green hand... 


	15. Chapter 14: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

**__**

Chapter 14: Somewhere Over The Rainbow... 

****

JUNE 1, 0000 XD 

"So, you were successful!" Gaspar smiled as they emerged at the End of Time. Lucca, Robo & Ayla all ran over, shouting greetings. 

"Crono, you're back!" 

"The procedure was successful!" 

"Crono! Crono!" 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm glad to see you too." The teen laughed. "Thanks, Gaspar. We'd be dead if it weren't for you." The old man harrumphed. 

"Bah! Don't thank me. You guys did all the work; I just helped you out of it." 

"And broke about a dozen rules and regulations in the process!" Came a familiar voice from the door. Crono turned and laughed. 

"Hey, Spekkio! Put on a few pounds, I see!" The purple Masamune clone laughed back. 

"Welcome back, spiky. Boy, are you gonna get it, Gaspar! They're really pissed!" 

"Couldja forward them a message for me?" The old man said, raising his middle finger. Spekkio shook his head, still chortling. 

"Sorry, bud, but no. You've still got things to do, and forwarding THAT message might result in you being atomized or something. You'll have to handle this yourself." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Gaspar dismissed it. "Anyways, Crono. If you really want to thank me, make me a part of the team!" 

"Don't you think you're a little old?" Lucca called out cheekily. In response, he jumped ten feet into the air and performed a German Suplex on her. "ARGH!" Everybody else in the room except Spekkio stared, wide-eyed. Gaspar picked himself up and walked back to the lamppost, ignoring the moaning pile of scientest. Crono raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, I can't argue with your credentials, and the demonstration scores five stars. You're in!" Gaspar sighed. 

"Actually, I can't really help you in the physical sense. However, since you accepted me as a team member, I can now use more of my powers than before." 

"You're still gonna get chewed out, though." Spekkio added. 

"Shut up, fatboy. Anyway, as you recall, the last time you took on Lavos, you got the bad end of the bargain." 

"You don't have to tell me about it." Crono said, rubbing his head. "Dying isn't something I'm likely to forget." 

"I wouldn't." Gaspar conceded. "At any rate, you were fated to lose that battle. But now, you can take him on at any time and stand a fair chance of winning. But that's not the only think you can do; there are a number of secondary quests which you can undertake, each of which will raise your power greatly upon completion." He stopped talking and took out a plate-sized wooden circle, with eight gems of different colors set in it; yellow, blue, brown, red, white, green, purple and black. The yellow stone was shining brightly, while the others were dimmed. Gaspar smiled. "Pick a stone!" 

Crono looked at the gems, then at the party. "I dunno... one of you guys pick." Marle silently walked up and pointed at the blue stone. Gaspar nodded and placed his hand on it. 

"In the Middle Ages, there exists a marvelous artifact, which shines like a rainbow... ask the one known as Toma for aid." He sighed, slumping forward. "The problem with using that thing is that it wears me out. I'll need to nap for a bit before I can do that again." His rambling was interruputed by a loud whining from the dock, as Epoch suddenly appeared and powered down. "Hmm... your Wings of Time appears to have followed you. It looks as though it has a heart and mind of its own. You're very lucky to have it. Now, time to sleep." 

"Oh no, you don't." Spekkio chortled. "Nice try, bub. You still need to have that little "talk." In the door." Grumbling, Gaspar walked past the shape-shifter and through the door. Spekkio looked at the group. 

"I can't help you as much as the old fart, but I can give you a few hints. For this one, take cave girl. And visit her place before you go on." 

"Okay." Crono looked at the group. "I'm guessing you three will want to rest. That leaves Lucca or Robo as the third adventurer." 

Lucca and Robo looked at each other, then, on some shared thought, began playing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Or, in Robo's case, club-tinfoil-laser. Lucca won and skipped over. 

"Okay, let's go! I'm sick of this place." As they turned to leave, an explosion came from Spekkio's room, and a blackened Gaspar tottered out. Crono just shook his head and got in the Epoch. 

"I like the wings. You say Dalton put them on?" 

"Yuuup." 

"I'll send him a christmas card. I'm sure Spekkio could find a way to get it to him. But for now, onward!" 

****

JUNE 1, 65000000 BC 

At Ayla's insistence, their first stop was the ruined Laruba. But it was empty! 

"Where'd they all go?" Crono wondered. "Hold it... there's somebody in the very back... it's a Nu!" The creature opened an eye as Crono approached. 

"Hmph... I give you strange rock, you go away, nu...!" Depositing a spherical silver stone into his hand, the Nu dropped off again. Concluding that there was nothing else here, the team departed. 

"Maybe Kino know." Ayla said as the team went to Ioka. When they landed, though, the mystery of the missing Laburans was solved. They were in Ioka! Kino stepped out of his tent when he heard Epoch's landing, and his face broke into a wide grin. 

"Ayla! Crono! Lucca! How you been?" Laughing, Ayla ran over and caught him in a bear hug, then playfully pinned him. 

"Kino still not strong as Ayla. Who chief now?" He puffed his chest out proudly. 

"Kino chief!" Ayla grinned. 

"Take good care Ioka. What new?" 

"Hmmm..." Kino mused. "Trading man have new armor in! Go see! Much expensive, though... 10 of each!" 

"Aya! To Hunting Range!" Ayla commanded. 

*** 

"Why are we doing ths again?" Lucca aked as she shot a green frog. 

"To get local currency." Crono responded, killing another. 

"UWAAAAOOOO!!!" Ayla shrieked happily, splattering a grey blob-creature across the range. "How many we have now?" 

"9 Petals..." Crono said slowly. "8 Fangs... 8 Horns... and 9 Feathers." Lucca suddenly perked up and tiptoed away. A moment later, they heard her voice. 

"This is a stickup! Drop it all and run!" A moment later, the noise of something heavy crashing away came, and Lucca walked back carrying 3 of everything. 

"A Nu. I jumped him from behind. We've got enough now; let's go!" They walked back to Ioka and went in the trading hut, where they traded 10 of each item for a suit of armor made of pure ruby. 

"Ruby Armor, eh?" Crono mused. "Looks like we'll be dealing with fire. Good thing we got this, then; it won't be as good as the Red vest and mail, but there's three of us and two of them, so now we're all fire-protected. And we got a wierd silver stone and a few leftover Hunting Range things to boot. Now, let's get on with it! 

****

JUNE 2, 600 AD 

"Where IS he?" Crono yelled angrily. They had checked the bars in Truce, San Dorino and Porre, and no Toma. Lucca snapped her fingers. 

"Choras! We forgot to check Choras!" Choras was a town on a large island in the far southeast. They flew the Epoch there and quickly located the bar. As they entered, a familiar face turned around. 

"Hey, kid. Long time no see." Toma gestured at the empty stools next to him, and the group sat down. "You guys are quite the talk of the world." 

"Oh?" Crono asked idly. Toma snorted. 

"Yeah; 50-to-1 odds say you died when you blew Magus's Castle into orbit. Lucky for me I bet on the long shots. So, whatcha here for?" 

"We're looking for info on the Rainbow Shell..." Toma's expression darkened. 

"Hey, bud, I already got dibs on that claim!" He thought for a moment. "Tell ya what, though. This is a dangerous expedition. If I die on it..." He produced a black bottle. "...pour this on my grave." The explorer got to his feet. "I'll be leaving now. See ya later." Crono frowned, looking at the bottle, and by the time he realized Toma had left them with the tab AGAIN it was too late. 

****

JUNE 2, 1000 AD 

"If memory serves me correctly, Toma Levine was buried on a cape west of Choras... here we go." Lucca pointed downward, and Crono landed the Epoch. They were on a cliff with a beautiful view. At the far end was a single tombstone, faded with age. Crono could barely make out the encryption. 

__

The great explorer, Toma Levine, rests here 

September 16, 555-June 3, 600 

"He died on the next day?!" Lucca said incredulously. Crono shook his head sadly. 

"Toma wasn't kidding when he said the place was dangerous... let's get to this." He uncorked the bottle and poured it over the grave. Ayla ran over and sniffed it. 

"Smell odd. Like rotten skins." A moment later, something came out of the ground, to everybody's surprise. It was the hazy, indistinct form of Toma. 

"Hey, buds." It said weakly. "Bugger caught me by surprise." Crono noticed the huge teeth marks all over the explorer's ghostly body and shuddered. Toma laughed. 

"Hey, don't cry for me. I don't really mind. What day is it?" Crono told him, and he said something that would've sent Marle into a dead faint. 

"Sheez! Quick, you guys, get back to 600 AD! I die at roughly noon tomorrow, and when I do, the whole cave collapses!" He walked up to the edge of the cliff. "See that island way out there? That's the location. It's called the Giant's Claw." 

"Thanks, Toma." Crono said. The explorer smiled. 

"If ya wanna thank me, then go and see if you can keep me from getting chomped. Being dead isn't THAT bad, but I wish I could live a few years more." 

"Okay. We'll do all we can to keep you from dying so you can tell us this." Lucca said with an absolutely straight face. Crono glared at her. 

"Ayla, knock that little nuisance around, will ya?" Toma began laughing as the cave woman dived on the scientest. 

"You guys are a laugh riot! See ya in -400 years!" With that, the spirit did a back-flip over the cliff and was lost from view. 

****

JUNE 3, 600 AD 

"So this is the Giant's Claw..." Crono said as they walked through the long dirt tunnel. "Hey, a piece of paper!" The teen bent and picked it up, reading what was written. 

_Dammit, this place is a dead-end! The only way left to go is... those holes! Maybe if I fall in on purpose... yes! _

"Toma's already passed this area. We've gotta catch up to him! Lucca, what time is it?" 

"9 AM. We've got 3 hours." The group ran forward, then simultaneously put on the brakes, startled. 

"Tyrano... Lair? Azala place?" Ayla said softly. They were in Azala's throne room. Lucca frowned. 

"Lavos's impact didn't destroy most of it; it just pushed it underground and out of the way. I wish I knew what they made it of." She skipped forward and sat on the throne. "Look at me! I'm Queen Luccazala!" Ayla was rolling on the floor laughing. Crono shook his head, laughing himself. 

"Very funny. But for every minute we spend here, it's another minute that may be too late for Toma! Come on!" The next room was a crossroads; they could go left or right. 

"Left." Crono decided, and they began walking, only to stop as a Thundersaur and two Runners came out. 

"They're zombies!" Lucca noticed. "Much stronger than normal!" 

"Okay, then... LIGHTNING 2!" Crono grinned as the Gigasaur and the two Leapers absorbed the attack. The Leapers went down, but the Gigasaur grinned, then sent it back at them! 

"Ow! Bastard!" Lucca spat and hurled a Napalm down its throat, causing it to explode. Crono groaned. 

"Dammit. Looks like those things have learned to retaliate over the centuries. Let's go on and hope we don't meet many more." They went on and down a set of stairs, then into the next room-a dead end! There was half a rope ladder hanging down from overhead, but no way to reach it. Lucca sighed. 

"Ok, we go back and take the right fork." They did so, but as they were about to go in, there was a screeching from overhead, and zombified Avian Rexs dropped down. Ayla let out a war whoop and began spinning wildly. 

"What is she doing?" Crono wondered. The question was answered when tall tornadoes spun out from her and slammed into the enemies, violently smashing them into the walls. The other two stared. "But... I thought she had no magic!" Lucca was the first to recover. 

"Spekkio said she had some abilities in Mysticism. This place is from her time, and there's a lot of Mysticism energy here. Stands to reason she'd find a new technique." Ayla grinned at them both. 

"Ayla strong! Ayla make death wind! Ayla find strange explorer man!" Laughing, she charged ahead, and the other two followed. Running on all fours, Ayla accidentally trod on a floor switch, dropping a pair of zombie Apes in. Before they could move, Ayla hit one with her Charm spell. A golden bottle flew out from its paw, and the cavewoman grabbed it, handing it to Crono. The teen's eyes went wide. 

"Is this what I think it is?" Lucca slowly nodded. 

"Yeah... it's a Megalixer. Do you think the other would have one too? Hey, Ayla, hit the other!" The cavewoman nodded and performed the trick again, and another Megalixer emerged. Crono suddenly noticed an outline on the floor under the Apes, as well as another button. Grinning, he stepped on it, and the floor opened beneath them, dropping them in holes. Crono looked over and winced. 

"It appears falling is not good for those who are rotten. Let's get going." Up ahead was one of the Lair's skull-doors, but it led to another dead-end. 

"Now what?" Ayla wondered. Crono thought back to Toma's Note and looked into the holes again, this time seeing the path onward. 

"We jump down. Use those dead apes as landing spots." He jumped down, followed by Ayla. Lucca shuddered and waited a moment before jumping, thinking that it was a good thing Marle wasn't here. 

****

JUNE 3, 0000 XD 

"What are you thinking about, Marle?" Robo asked. The princess raised her head, looking at the robot. 

"...My dad. I wonder how he's doing..." Robo blinked. 

"Ah, yes. Parentage. Such an interesting part of human life." Marle looked at him oddly. 

"What do you mean, Robo? Don't you have parents?" The robot stared at her, then began laughing in his odd manner. 

"Marle, I am a robot, not a biological life form. Such things are a physical impossibility." Marle frowned. 

"Now hold on a moment. I thought you said that those six R-Series we fought in the Factory were your brothers!" Robo stopped laughing. 

"...A figure of speech. We were all built as a group. I have no father... or mother. We came from an assembly line." Marle shook her head sadly. 

"So you can't understand love..." Robo suddenly stiffened. "Robo?" The robot didn't respond. The word "love" had triggered something... a memory of a voice... 

__

Prometheus, it's no good! They've been taken, just like the others! ... There's no way around it. I'll hold them off. No! Don't interrupt, I want to do this! You oversized toaster, didn't it ever occur to you that I love you too? One of us has to hold them off, and you're a scientest, not a fighter! I'm lost, even if you're the one who stays! Now, GO! Get away from this place! ...Prometheus... I love you... and I promise I'll never forget you no matter WHAT happens! Now run! 

"AUGH!" Robo started forward, holding his head. Marle jumped. 

"Robo, what happened?!" The robot slowly got to his feet. 

"A... memory... of my past. Somebody speaking to me... Marle, I think I would like to go into stasis now." Marle bit her lip. 

"O... okay." Robo's eyes dimmed as he dropped off. Marle looked around idly at the others. Frog & Magus were also asleep, as far away from each other as possible, and Gaspar... no need to finish. "So, I've got two options. I can go to sleep myself, or watch The Simpsons with Spekkio." 

A moment later, another voice joined the snoring. 

****

JUNE 3, 600 AD 

"Stupid apes." Crono grumbled. "Hiding in that gorge like that... Well, at least we got two more Megalixers. Hey, look at that." He bent over and picked up the shining blue rock. "Waddaya suppose this is?" 

"Beats me." Lucca said, looking at it. "It looks similar to the black one we found in Zeal and the silver one we got from the Nu." Ayla, uninterested in rocks, went on ahead. 

"Front hall of lair!" She called back. They had reached the large hall that was originally the first room of the Tyrano Lair. Two Leapers appeared to be sleeping. The tip-off was the pools of blood beneath them. Lucca checked the knife marks in their necks. 

"These can't be more than five minutes old. We're gaining on him!" Crono nodded. 

"We started at the top. I'm guessing the Rainbow Shell's at the bottom. Let's go to the dungeons." Unfortunately, the skull door leading to the dungeons was jammed shut, and they were forced to go up to the second floor. 

"Same old guarded crossroads." Crono noted, seeing the Fossil Ape to the right and the Gigasaur to the left. He grinned. "Same old buttons." The traps worked as well as they did back in 65 Million BC, dropping the beasts into the void. The left path was another dead end, so they went right. Walking past a couple watching Rubbles, they found an open skull door with a single treasure chest in the back. Shrugging, Crono opened it... and the trap door dropped them all into a prison cell. 

"Great. Now what?" Lucca grumbled. Ayla smiled and broke the decrepit bars. "Oh. That." Crono walked out. 

"We're almost to the bottom. Let's hurry!" They ran down to the final cell which had held Kino, and found somebody else there instead. 

"TOMA!" The explorer spun around at Crono's shout. 

"Huh? What are you... oh." He frowned, remembering. "So, I 'died'?" 

"Yah." Crono nodded. "We're here to save your ass and take home the Shell." Toma cracked a smile. 

"Given a choice between that and dying horribly, you make one damn convincing argument. Let's go on." The four friends walked through the rough opening in the back of the cell... and froze. 

Standing in front of them was the zombified Black Tyrano! Its head was a horrible mass of melted flesh and exposed bone, colored a bloody red. The rest of its body was a more rusty red, stained by Lavos's impact. It did not seem to notice them; it just stood there, roaring endlessly. 

"Tyrano back!" Ayla yelped. "Ayla thought dead! We fight again?" 

"Again?! You FOUGHT that thing?" Toma gasped. Crono slowly nodded. 

"Yeah. We're the ones who did that to its head. We left the red armor back at the End of Time too... great. It doesn't seem particularly intelligent... maybe we can slip past. Toma, stay behind; I think this bugger was what did you in. No sense taking chances if it comes down to a fight. Lucca, put on the Ruby Armor just in case." That turned out to be a good move; as they walked over, it noticed them for the first time, angled its head to glare at them, and changed the pitch of the roars so that there was no mistaking the challenge implicit. The group gave up the sneaking act and took up their battle positions. Crono grinned. 

"We're not gonna go easy on you this time! CONFUSE!" The teen jumped to its head and moved around it, his blade slashing, flashing and cutting insanely before finishing with a mighty upward smash. The Tyrano roared and began glowing slightly. Crono went pale at this. 

"It's charging up that massive flame attack! Hurry and kill it!" Ayla responded by hitting it with a Charm spell, bringing out... a Red Mail! Crono shoved it on and smiled at Lucca. 

"Shall we?" She smiled back. 

"Let's. FIRE SWORD 2!" Crono's flaming blade worked just as well as it had on Dalton. Ayla smiled and tossed out a Tail Spin, battering it with wind, followed by another Confuse. But all of their attacks had not been enough, and now they faced the zombified dinosaur's fury. 

With one more roar, the Rust Tyrano spewed waves of molten lava. Crono was protected by his Red Mail, but the other two heroes were scalded horribly. As soon as the attack ended, Crono jumped up. 

"LUMINAIRE!!!" As he floated in place, a massive green globe of lightning energy formed around him, then slowly opened, releasing massive amounts of energy. "Chew on that, you ARGH!" The furious Tyrano snatched him up in its awful jaws and began slowly chewing, crushing him. For a moment, it looked like the end... but then it opened its mouth to roar in pain, dropping Crono, as the throwing knife thudded straight into its right eye. 

"Try to eat my friend, who just saved my ass from YOU, will ya? I don't think so." Toma snapped, before throwing his other knife. Even though the explorer had only one eye, his aim was still a marvel, and a moment later he outnumbered the Tyrano in working eyeballs. Lucca and Ayla struggled up. 

"Thanks, Toma. This ends NOW! FIRE STORM!" Ayla's Tail Spin and Lucca's Fire 2 mixed into deadly, spinning pillars of flame that ripped through the Tyrano like a scythe through wheat. As its neck was burned away, there was a split-second in which the head began to fall, followed by a blinding explosion which completely blocked all of their vision. When they recovered their sight, the only remnants of the ancient Tyrano from an era long past were dark red stains on the floors, walls and ceilings. 

"Hey, look!" Toma called out. Behind the battle site was their goal; the Rainbow Shell. It was a good ten feet on any side, and appeared to have been used by a Nautilus-like creature. It sparkled with every color of the rainbow, and glimmers of light played along it endlessly. They all stared at it for several moments, taken aback by its beauty. Ayla was the first to speak. 

"Pretty shell! We carry back!" They gathered, one on each side, and attempted to lift it; but it was far too heavy, even for all of them. 

"Damn.. we found it, but we can't take it back? That sucks!" Lucca voiced her opinion. Toma frowned. 

"You guys are friends with the royalty, right? Why don't we go ask them for help?" Crono slowly nodded. 

"Sounds like a plan." 

*** 

On their way back, the group had switched Lucca for Frog, since they were going to Guardia Castle. Toma made no comment. The knight still looked tired from the ordeal on Death Peak, but managed to act normal as they walked in. The soldiers at the front gate were wide-eyed as they saw who it was. 

"S... sir Frog! Sir Crono! The King wishes to see you!" As they walked into the throne room, the King half-rose. 

"My goodsirs! Is it true that you hath defeated Magus?" Frog kneeled. 

"I doth swear that Magus shalt never disturb ye again!" The king smiled. 

"Most excellent! Eh? Aren't you the explorer, Toma Levine?" Toma nodded, and Crono spoke up. 

"Hey... we have a favor to ask..." The king listened to the story of the Rainbow Shell. 

"...I get it. You want me to bring the Rainbow Shell back here and store it in the basement?" The Queen turned to him. 

"Please... do it for Frog." He nodded. 

"Done! I shall declare it a national treasure! Knight Captain!" The gold-armored leader walked up to his king. 

"Yes, my lord?" 

"You shall immediately take the knights to the Giant's Claw and retrieve the Rainbow Shell!" The Captain turned and left, and the king returned his gaze to Frog. "Frog, before now you have been the guardian of my Queen, but held no official title. No more. As of now, I declare you a knight of the kingdom!" Frog bowed, trying to hide his eyes. 

"Waste not, such precious words on me..." Queen Leene smiled. 

"Frog, I know you have a lot to do now. But when you're done, come back to the castle and stay as long as you want." 

"My heart is glad... thank you, my liege!" The group slowly turned and walked outside, to the Epoch. Nobody spoke until they were inflight. Toma was the first. 

"Ahem... couldja drop me off at Choras?" Crono nodded. 

"Sure, Toma." On the island, they landed near the local bar, and Toma jumped out. 

"So, you guys got the Rainbow Shell after all... but I'm not sore. Better than me being Tyrano chow. But I WILL find the Sun Stone first! Ha ha ha!" Chuckling, he disappeared into the bar. 

****

JUNE 3, 0000 XD 

"So, now what?" Crono asked. Ayla charged over to Gaspar and grabbed the brown stone on the wooden wheel, waking the Guru. 

"Wha... there's an object that shines like the sun, casting light on each generation... look on an island south of Belthasar's dome... when you're done there, go to the northwest corner of the world... zzz..." He dropped back off. Spekkio stuck his head out the door. 

"My turn. Take cave girl again. And here... you'll need this." He tossed something that Crono caught. 

"Beef jerky...? Well, whatever. Thanks, Spekkio. Frog, why don't you swap with Robo?" Robo eagerly switched places with the knight, and they were off again. 

****

JUNE 3, 2300 BC 

"There's the island..." Crono pointed out. They landed and discovered that the only feature was a single cave. Inside was something they had though they would never see again. 

"This architecture... Zealian?" Robo noted. It was like being back in the Ocean Palace. There were two main pieces of land; the one they were standing on, and one in the back, seperated by a river of lava. As they walked over, something emerged from the lava... 

"WEEEEOOOOOORRRRRGGGG!!!" The creature was a large orb, red with black patterns. Its only real feature was the single eye on the front. Five small flames appeared in a circle around it, and it squealed again. 

"While in Zeal, I read that the Guardian of the Sun Palace was a horrible monster known as the Son of Sun! It is hostile!" Robo yelled, but Ayla had already taken action, casting Charm and recieving a Black Mail. The Son of Sun was not amused; it spoke a single word in a horrible voice that sounded like a watermelon squishing combined with nails on a chalkboard. 

"FLARE!" With a rushing sound, waves of pure red energy exploded out of it, smashing all three with tremendous power. 

"ARGH! Robo use heal wave thingy!" Ayla gasped. Robo understood and released a Heal Beam. Crono grinned. 

"My turn. HIYYYAAA!" He charged forward, aiming his sword for the eyeball... and it passed through, like there was nothing there. "Huh? ARGH!" It counterattacked with another Flare. Robo frowned. 

"I remember... the Son of Sun's essence is in one of the flames. The others are decoys. Oh, pardon me. Heal Beam!" Ayla charged forward, bashing a flame... which exploded, knocking her back. Crono ran forward and tried a second, with a similar reaction. It was Robo who found the correct one; when he attacked the third, there was no explosion, and Son of Sun squealed in pain. Crono and Ayla immediately began concentrating on that one, and Son of Sun took several hits before screeching again. 

"ROULETTE SHUFFLE!" As it commanded, the flames spun around wildly before stopping in new positions. They quickly discovered that no matter which attack they used, it always did the same damage to Son of Sun, so they just stuck to their regular attacks. Wide-range spells turned out to be a definately bad idea; Crono's Luminaire brought retaliation from all five flames as well as Son of Sun. Slowly but surely, they whittled away at it, dodging or healing its Shadow Beam attacks. After the third Roulette Shuffle, Ayla noticed something. 

"Fire going out!" Indeed, the flames were sputtering, and Son of Sun looked sickly. Crono grinned. 

"We got 'im! Keep it up!" He found the flame, and the foe writhed. Desperately, it cast Flare, but that did not save it; Ayla was bearing down on the vulnerable flame. The Son of Sun sucked all the flames into itself, becoming solid, and attempted to run. Robo was waiting. 

"My brothers were masters of the Beast Toss tehcnique, but I could never master it. Would you care to try it with me, madame Ayla?" The cavewoman grinned wolfishly. Picking up the frightened Son of Sun, Robo punched it over to her, and she sent it back. Back and forth the Son of Son went, until Ayla finished by heaving it across the river of lava, sending it crashing into the back. 

"Touchdown!" She said impishly. Crono facepalmed. 

"Too much tv... well, now what do we... oh." As he spoke, a bridge extended across to the other side. They went across and up the several stairs, where the Son of Sun laid, violently trembling. Crono walked up to it. 

"Had enough?" It responded by releasing a flash of light, and was gone when vision returned. In its place was a perfectly smooth, dark jewel the size of a football. Robo picked it up. 

"This... was a Sun Stone. But it is unpowered. However, if we expose it to constant sunlight for approximately 65.2167 million years we may be able to recharge it. For now, let us call it a Moon Stone." Crono smiled. 

"Okay! Gaspar already told us where to go, and the time is obvious. So what are we waiting for?" 

****

JUNE 4, 65000000 BC 

"The northwest corner of the world." Crono looked at the small island with a cave. "Let's go inside." The cave was simple; the only unique thing was at the back, where a beam of sunlight shone through a hole in the roof. Crono gingerly placed the Moon Stone into the center of the light. 

"Okay. Now, let's go back to 2300 AD and check this place." 

****

JUNE 4, 2300 AD 

"Stone gone?!" Ayla yelped. 

"If that moron Toma took it, I'll..." Crono growled before lapsing into unintelligible profanity. Robo blinked and scanned the dust patterns. 

"I detect it has been gone 1300 years. Let us look in your time, Crono." 

****

JUNE 4, 1000 AD 

"Hey, what the hell?" Crono choked. There was a pillar of light rising from the house of the mayor of Porre! He quickly landed the Epoch and went inside. The mayor was lounging on the couch, going through bags of gold coins. The house was a garbage heap, and there was nobody else there, but he didn't seem to mind. 

"Excuse me? But have you found a Sun Stone?" Crono asked. The mayor began snickering. 

"Heh heh... Sun Stone? Heh heh heh... never heard... huh huh... of it! GWAA HA HA!" Crono shook his head, disgusted at the obvious lies. He wanted to teach the slob manners with his sword, but the teen was already on thin ice with the government in his time. 

_Maybe I can do something in the past... change his family line or something._

****

JUNE 4, 600 AD 

"I'm sorry, dear," The mayor's wife said to her husband as Crono walked in. "There's not a scrap of jerky left in the entire town! I'm afraid I can't make your favorite meal for your birthday..." 

Crono blinked and pulled out the jerky Spekkio had given him. The lady looked over to the visitor and gasped at what he was holding. 

"Jerky! Please, sir, will you sell it to me? I'll pay anything!" Crono smiled and pressed it into her hand. 

"Take it. No charge." The woman stood as if frozen. 

"You're giving it to me? For free? I thought there were no kind people left in this world... how can I repay you?" Crono had an idea. 

"If you really want to repay me, then make sure you teach your children how important generosity is, and have them teach their children!" The woman smiled. 

"Oh, I will, I will! I hope some day my children are as generous as you, sir!" Crono nodded and walked outside, and the noise of the Epoch taking off rang through the air. The mayor's wife turned to see her husband approaching. 

"Dear, have you heard the news? Magus is defeated! The war is over! We got some pictures of the heroes who took him on single-handedly!" The mayor's wife took one look at the pictures he was holding before fainting. 

****

JUNE 4, 1000 AD 

The mayor's house was changed a great deal. Now, the entire house was bright and clean, and happy children ran through it. The town looked a lot better too; it seemed that the money which had previously gone straight to the mayor was now being used for the good of Porre. Inside the house, the mayor sat on the couch, going through papers. He looked up. 

"Hey, buds! Can I help you?" Crono smiled; this was a great improvement. 

"Yeah. Have you seen the Moon Stone?" The mayor pointed to the coffee table, where the treasure was resting. 

"Yup! Found it in a little cave while I was on a boat trip. Didn't know it was yours. Go ahead, take it." 

"Thanks!" Crono picked up the stone and started to go. The mayor smiled as well. 

"Share and share alike! Help the needy! Thinkin' about making THAT the town motto. Whaddaya think?" 

"Sounds good to me." 

****

JUNE 4, 2300 AD 

They had put the Moon Stone back in its spot in 1000 AD, and now, it was done. As they entered the cave, bright flashes of light were continually emitted from the fiercely glowing stone. Robo blinked. 

"Perhaps Lucca could handle this. I shall switch with her." A moment later, the teenage genius was there, picking up the amazing stone. 

"Let's get back to my lab! I've gotta do some scans!" 

****

JUNE 5, 1000 AD 

"The Sun Stone continually replenishes its own energy..." Lucca mumured as she read the readout from the large, cylindrical machine the Stone was in. "I can drain 97% of the energy without critically damaging it. It'll recharge itself. Now, I just have to drain the power... and vacuum pack it into a cartridge!" A wide beam of purple light shot out of the top of the machine, and Lucca began cackling. When the light turned off, she took out a glowing cartridge and replaced the ammunition of her Zealian gun with it. She smiled, pointing it in all directions. 

"Much lighter. Now, to test it..." She pointed at the window and fired. A thin beam of light shot out and left a smoking hole through the window. Lucca cackled again. 

"Mwa ha ha! I've created the world's first real laser gun! Now, what to call it..." 

"Phaser?" Crono called out helpfully. 

"Shut up." 

"Moonraker?" 

"Shut UP." 

"X-Buster?" 

"Shut up or I'm using this on YOU next! Hmm... I know, I'll call it the Wondershot!" 

"Great name!" All of them looked at the door, from which Taban walked in. "Hey, Lucca. While you were in the bathroom, I nabbed a bit of the Sun Stone and made something nifty!" He held up a pair of sunglasses. "Sun Shades! They'll channel some of the energy into your attack!" Lucca grinned and took them. 

"My dad, the mad scientest. Thanks!" 

****

JUNE 5, 0000 XD 

"Now, who would look best in these..." Lucca said evilly, looking at their slumbering comrades. Crono pointed at Robo, who was in stasis, and they slipped the Sun Shades onto him, nearly laughing at the absurd look. Gaspar coughed, causing them to jump; they hadn't known he was awake. 

"Ahem! I'm not happy with you. You're supposed to complete one quest before starting another!" The guru picked up the wooden circle, where the brown stone was shining brightly to match the yellow, but the blue was still dim. Crono facepalmed. 

"Whoops! Guess we have to go GET the shell. And that means Guardia Castle, my time. Marle's coming. And since we're still on the blue, Spekkio's advice about Ayla still holds true. Come on." Ayla groaned; she was getting tired from all the running around. 

****

JUNE 5, 1000 AD 

"Remember, we're not exactly going to get a warm welcome." Marle cautioned as they walked towards the front door. "Me and my dad did NOT get along well last time..." However, what they did get was something that none of them expected. There were soldiers everywhere, blocking off almost all the doors. Marle ran up to one. "What's going on?" 

"King Guardia is standing trial!" The guard reported, amid stunned gasps. "The Chancellor is accusing him of selling the national treasures!" Fortunately, the way to the courtroom was one of the only ways not blocked. Two soldiers were standing outside the door, however. Marle stepped up. 

"Ahem... LET ME THROUGH!!!!" Accustomed to life in the castle with a temperamental princess, the soldiers reacted automatically, jumping out of the way. 

"I have here an ancestral will..." The Chancellor was saying as they rushed in. "'Unveil the Rainbow Shell to the people at the end of the Millenium.' ... Nadia! What are you doing?" The king whirled around from his spot, staring at the princess. 

"Nadia! The chancellor is trying to frame me!" 

"Insults!" The chancellor sneered. "He confirms his guilt! If you're innocent, confirm it with proof! Bring the Rainbow Shell here!" He turned to the guards. "Remove them, and do not allow them to pass!" 

"Hey!" Marle yelled as they were thrown out and the door was locked. "That's not... ooh!" She turned to Crono & Ayla. "Something stinks here! My dad would never sell the Rainbow Shell!" 

"I agree!" Crono nodded. "Let's get down to the basement and find that thing!" They tromped down and found that the guard of the cellar was unconscious. "Convenient." Crono muttered as they started to round the corner. Ayla, however, grabbed them and pulled them back. 

"Ugly purple snakes! Bad!" Marle peeked around the corners and hissed. Gnashers! 

"Duh huh huh... this plan is genius!" The first hissed. The other laughed as well. 

"Yeah... heh heh heh... We're gonna bring down the kingdom! Ha ha ha!" 

"I hear the boss is itching to avenge a grudge that's been in his family for four centuries... ACK!" Both of them never had to worry about anything again as the crossbow bolts went into their brains. Marle turned to her friends, her face a mask of fury. 

"So, it IS a plot! Come on!" 

*** 

"I admit it... I bought the Rainbow Shell from the King." The merchant said, eyes down. "He said he needed the money..." 

"Lies!" King Guardia shouted. "I've never seen you before!" The judge banged his gavel. 

"Order in the court!" The 'merchant' walked over to the Chancellor before leaving. 

"Hee hee hee... did I do well?" He whispered. 

"Perfect." 

*** 

"Ambush!" Crono yelled as two Naga-Ettes jumped out from behind a stack of barrels. Without stopping, Marle mowed them down with her crossbow and kept running. The next attack came from two Gnashers who jumped out of holes in the wall and a Naga-Ette who came down the hall like a banshee out of hell. Their momentum kept their corpses moving for a good while even after their death. Finally, they reached the door at the end of the hall, and burst through to find the Rainbow Shell waiting for them. Crono looked at the thing. 

"...You realize there's no way in hell we can lug this all the way back up to the courtroom?" Marle wasn't listening. 

"There's a piece of paper attached to this..." She picked it up and began to read. 

__

Dear Marle, 

I know that times will be tough between you and your father. But you have to remember that despite all the arguments, despite the fights and screaming and tantrums, the two of you are still father and daughter. That is a tie that can never be broken. You must remember that. If you're reading this, it means that it's time for the two of you to be reconciled. Make the family proud. 

Queen Guardia XXI, Leene 

Marle slumped forward, her eyes shining. Ayla stepped over and helped her to her feet. 

"Ayla see before... when baby dinosaur grow big, leave nest. Now Marle want to leave nest too. But Marle still young... maybe not time to leave nest yet." Malre slowly smiled. 

"Yes... come on, we have to go save my dad!" Crono walked up and looked into her eyes. 

"Marle... I promise you I will kill whoever is behind this." Marle smiled and kissed him, her face gentle for a moment before it hardened. 

"Not this time, Crono. This time, he's mine." The red-haired teen nodded silently, then turned and slashed at the Rainow Shell's edge. A single shard flew off into Marle's hand. 

"That's all the proof we need! Come on!" 

*** 

"Members of the jury. If he is guilty, stand to the right. If innocent, stand to the left." The judge announced sadly. He already knew the outcome, and he didn't like it. The Chancellor was openly gloating as the first jury member approached. 

"Guilty." The second walked up behind him. "Guilty." Then a third, and a fourth. "Guilty." "Guilty." "Guilty." Guilty." King Guardia bowed his head. The Chancellor had won. 

*** 

"Come on! Let us in!" Marle screamed. The guards shook their heads reluctantly. 

"I'm very sorry, princess, but we have been ordered to not let you through." Marle gave them her little-girl look, the one she hadn't used in years. 

"You won't reconsider? Pleeeeease?" They couldn't look at her. 

"No, princess." 

"Phooey!" She walked back to her friends. "There is one other way. A secret passage. Let's go to my room." 

"And woe betide the guard who gets in our way." Crono growled. Ayla just grunted as they all ran off. The guards looked at each other. 

"We should probably stop them." 

"No, we've been ordered to guard this door. Nothing about chasing them." 

"The Chancellor will be pissed." 

"I don't think so. I think those three will beat him. And as long as they're not using this door, it's none of our business." 

*** 

"The verdict is in! Guilty!" The Chancellor announced triumphantly. He walked over to the King, not seeing the figure moving around behind the massive stained glass window in the back of the courtroom. He fought the urge to dance at the look on King Guardia's face, and instead lifted the crown off his victom's head. "The Guardia Line is no more! I hereby crown myself..." 

"SHUT UP!!" Everybody stared as Marle exploded through the stained-glass window with a terrific shattering noise. The princess landed in front of her father and turned to the judge. "I have the proof of my father's innocence!" She held out the Rainbow Shard for him to inspect. 

"Hmmm... yes, yes it is!" The judge turned a glare to the cringing Chancellor. "This is the second time something like this has happened. I think you owe us all an explanation!" 

"Uh... well, you see... heh heh..." The Chancellor began backing away as Crono & Ayla climbed down. He stopped quickly when Marle pointed her crossbow at him. 

"Your little scheme is over, Chancellor!" She hissed from between clenched teeth. The Chancellor looked nervous for a second, then suddenly started laughing uncontrollably. 

"Hee hee... it's not the scheme you think! I'm doing this to avenge my ancestor!" Marle's eyes grew wide as information poured into her brain. 

"No... impossible!" The Chancellor laughed insanely and began spinning. 

"Nothing is impossible, my dear! Super-Ultra-Presto TRANSFORMO!" The spinning grew faster, and lightning bolts danced around him. 

"What's going on?" Crono shouted to Marle. "Who is he?" 

"A descendant... of the first real opponent you ever faced!" With a flash, the 'Chancellor' assumed his true form. A giant blue buglike monster. 

"FEEL THE WRATH OF YAKRA XIII!" 

*** 

"LUMINAIRE!" The ultimate lightning attack smashed Yakra XIII into the wall, but he quickly recovered. 

"What? Is that all you got?" The monster grinned and spewed a gout of brown dust at Crono, confusing him. Ayla Charmed a White Mail as Marle healed Crono. Yakra snickered. 

_Don't get too cocky, princess!_ "Droooooo..." He jumped and stomped the ground, creating an earthquake. Crono jumped forward and performed a Confuse technique, then was slammed againt the wall by Yakra's counterattack. Marle shot at him while trying to puzzle out how she could be talking to him mentally. Yakra turned to her. 

_Yes... you have the same gift that all your ancestors did. You're the strongest, even more than that wrecthed LeARGH!_ He broke off as Ayla picked him up and threw him into the wall. Marle shot an Ice 2 to Crono, who turned it into an Ice Sword 2. 

_Why are you doing this to me? _

Because the Guardia line was responsible for my ancestor's death! Yakra screamed._ For that, the royal family must die! _

"Hey, bugboy! I got a zapper right here! LUMINAIRE!" The attack did much more damage this time, and Yakra had to struggle to get back up. 

_Playtime is over, princess!_ "Mwa ha ha! My ancestors remembered which of our attacks you humans hated most, and concentrated specially on it! Each generation, the attack grew stronger, until... this is it! NEEDLE SPIN, VERSION 13!" Huge quantities of deadly needles emerged from Yakra's back, showering the group. Crono and Ayla angrily went on the attack again, while Marle began tossing out Cure spells. 

_You'll never succeed! Never! _

Mwa ha ha... foolish girl, I already have! Crono's trial was first... that stupid brat was just the tool I needed to drive the wedge in between you and your father! Then you came back, and you were stupid enough to believe the lies I told you about your mother! From that point, I wasn't exactly sure what to do next, but you solved the problem for me when you went and cussed out your dad! Now, the both of you will die hating each other, and my revenge will be complete! "NEEDLE SPIN, VERSION 13!" The needle attack slammed into the group again, and Crono and Ayla went down. Marle stayed up, unmoving. _Eh? _

"BASTARD!" Marle screeched, running forward. Yakra laughed; the brat was coming right to him! 

_Come on, little girl! Shoot me! UGH!_ Marle had smashed him right between the eyes with her crossbow, stunning him momentarily. She took advantage of that moment and held her hands out right in front of his disgusting face. "ICE 2!" 

Now, the Ice 2 spell is unpleasant enough normally. Having one share your skull with you is guaranteed to ruin your day. At that moment, Yakra discovered an entirely new meaning of "brain freeze." But Marle wasn't done yet by a long shot; as Yakra writhed, she took out her crossbow and began pumping shaft after shaft into her foe. Crono and Ayla had gotten back up, but neither of them made a move. They just watched as the princess turned her hated foe into a pincushion, Rambo-style. Finally, the damage was too much. 

"D... defeated again..." With a horrible scream, Yakra XIII exploded. 

"Nadia!" As Marle began to fall, her father ran over and caught her. "Nadia, I'm so sorry... I was a fool." 

"No..." she smiled up at him. "We both were. But that's in the past now. The one who was really behind this is gone." The king glanced over at the arrow-riddled remains of Yakra XIII and couldn't help but agree. 

"Yes. But I was still bullheaded. If Aliza could see me..." Marle's breath caught for a moment. 

"Father... what was mother like when she..." The king lowered his head. 

"She... she was happy. She said something odd to me at the end. 'One day, Nadia will bring her loved one to meet you. Accept him.' You were there too, but you were too little to understand what was happening. You ran around, laughing. 'Mommy, daddy, it's fun having all of us here together!' Aliza was happy, seeing you like that, and she left us peacefully." Marle stared at the wall for several minutes, then slowly looked over her shoulder. 

"I... used to call you daddy?" 

"You did." Marle walked back and kissed her father on the cheek. 

"I'm sorry... daddy." 

*** 

"Now, Crono!" They were back in the throne room, and the King was on his throne. "I am going to repeal your sentence." 

"Thank you, my liege." Crono said, bowing. 

"However...!" They all froze as the King gave Crono the evil eye. "...I must insist that you take care of my daughter. If she's hurt..." 

"I'll guard her with my life, your majesty." 

"Now, it's my turn to help..." All of them looked behind the group, where they saw a familiar face. 

"Melchior!" Crono smiled. The Guru nodded. 

"I heard the news, and came down here to see what I could do. Your majesty, permission to use the Rainbow Shell to help Crono and his friends?" The King smiled. 

"Permission granted!" The group and Melchior walked down to the basement, and the Guru examined the shell. 

"Very well. I can either make one Prism Dress, with maximum protection, OR three Prism Helms with less. Which will it be?" 

"The dress." Crono said firmly. Melchior nodded, then sighed. 

"It's a shame... if I had a Sun Stone, I could make more things..." Crono grinned and tossed the Sun Stone at the Guru like a baseball. Melchior caught it easily. "I should have known. Now, go and do something, this'll take a while." 

****

JUNE 6, 0000 XD 

Marle had fallen asleep on the ride back. "That must have worn her out more than I thought... and after that Mt. Woe thing, too." Crono noted. Ayla groaned. 

"Ayla exhausted too. No take Ayla anywhere for while." She jumped out. Crono picked up Marle and carried her to a couch, placing her on it. He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. 

"Sleep well, princess." 

She smiled. 


	16. Chapter 15: Back To The Future

**__**

Chapter 15: Back To The Future 

****

JUNE 7, 0000 XD 

"Okay, who's coming along on this one?" Crono asked. Robo and Frog got up and silently moved over. The teen nodded. "Awright. Now, who wants to choose the next quest?" Robo and Frog both shrugged. It seemed neither of them were too keen on it yet. After a moment, Lucca got up from her spot on the floor. 

"Ow... Gaspar, if you don't put in some real beds real soon, I'll show you the benefits of my Wondershot personally." The Guru ignore her threat and held out the wood circle, from which she chose the red stone. 

"In the Middle Ages, a woman's sheer determination brings a forest back to life... between Dorino and Porre is where your destination lies..." 

"Yo!" Spekkio called out from his room. "Take at least one Blue Magic user-oh good, you've already got ribbit. And don't be afraid to make sacrifices. That's all I can say." Crono grinned. 

"Righty-o. Let's be on the road!" 

****

JUNE 7, 600 AD 

"Between Dorino and Porre... this has to be the spot. The great desert." Crono looked down at the sandy expanse below. "I heard somewhere that this was a forest once..." 

"It be true, lad." Frog confirmed. "When I was younger than ye, this was a great and beautiful wood. It died around the same time Magus came." He frowned. "Look! A house!" 

"And next to it... I detect great evil..." Robo murmured. Crono couldn't help but agree. Maybe a mile out from the house was a huge whirlpool in the sand. 

"Something like that... it's not natural. That place is where we'll find our goal. Let's see that house first, though. Maybe the people inside know about it." 

The house was inhabited by a woman named Fiona and her husband Marco. When asked about the desert, her face became grim. 

"Oh, yes... several years ago, monsters suddenly became coming here from the depths of the earth. I don't know what it is that attracted them..." She held up a potted plant that glowed green. "This plant has been passed down among my family line for who knows how long... apparently, it could restore the forest if the monsters were gone..." 

"Well, then it's settled." Crono said. "We'll wipe out the creeps, and you fix the forest." 

"Are you joking?" Fiona gasped. "There's no way you can do that! Those monsters are far too strong!" 

"Show her your credentials, Frog." Crono sighed. The knight nodded and took out the Masamune. "Any more objections?" 

"N... no." Fiona stammered, staring. Robo beeped. 

"The longer we wait, the lower our chances of success are. Let us proceed to this place." 

*** 

"This place is like a desert all its own... a Sunken Desert." Crono observed. 

"'Tis eerie... the sand doth never stop moving. Wait... enemies approach!" Burrowing out from the earth came a giant wormlike creature flanked by three smaller things resembling fish. 

"Hexapod and Mohavers." Robo reported. "They normally dwell much deeper underground... there must be something else drawing them here." 

"These guys don't seem to be too keen on letting us through, though." Crono observed. "Spekkio told us Water would be the key. Frog, if you please?" 

"WATER 2!" The spell had a startling effect; the three Mohavers dissolved completely, and the Hexapod began breaking up around the edges. Robo ran over and delivered a punch that finished the job. 

Their next encounter was with three Hexapods. The Water 2 had the same effect, but while Crono and Robo were finishing off two the third slammed Frog against a wall viciously. As he slammed into it, the wall crumbled away, revealing another room. Robo squished the big bug and they went in, not expecting to meet the cause of the problem so soon. 

"I am detecting unusual amounts of tremors from the earth... they seem to be emanating from... oh, my!" A misshapen form of giant, yellowed bones rose from the churning sands and shifted around, increasing them before descending again. Crono noticed a strange glow coming from the white orb they used to change group members and picked it up. 

"Yes?" 

"So, Retinite's behind this new desert." Magus's voice rang out from it. Frog frowned. 

"What dost thou know about this, mage?" 

"Retinite was an experiment." Magus explained. "An attempt to create a stronger Zombor. Problem is, there was a miscalculation, and he became TOO strong. He broke free and escaped. Now it seems he's been spending all this time destroying the forest. Be good boys and kill him." The connection ended, and Crono put the orb away, nodding grimly. 

"Okay. The next time that thing comes up, dump a Water 2 on it, Frog." The noble knight nodded and waited. It was scarcely a minute when Retinite reemerged to meet the Blue spell. Shrieking, it unfolded into a huge, yellow skeleton identical to Zombor, whom they had fought on Zenan Bridge. The only discrepancy was a strange, small fleshy orb that looked like a miniature Son of Sun in the stomach cavity. With a scream of rage, Retinite spewed a Firebomb which enveloped Frog. 

"Go for the bottom! CONFUSE!" The sword technique did surprisingly little damage against Retinite's lower half. Robo did a quick scan. 

"Its defense is very high, but it can be lowered by Blue Magic!" 

"Very well, then! WATER 2!" All three of Retinite's parts began twitching convulsively, and its edges became blurry. Crono laughed as he performed another Confuse, this time with significantly more positive effect. 

"Ha! That did it! Frog, keep that up. Robo, use OOF!" Annoyed at the discovery of his weakness, Retinite created a whirlpool of sand around Crono, throwing him about at high speed. Robo smashed a foot with Uzi Punch, breaking the spell. Retinite stumbled, trying to regain its balance, then fell flat on its face on account of another Water 2. Robo ran over and jumped between the legs. 

"Crono! Perform the technique we discussed for close range attacking!" 

"Gotcha, Robo! MAX CYCLONE!" The teen jumped onto his robot friend's head and stuck his sword out horizontally in front of them. Both of them began spinning, faster and faster, until they were just a blur. In an instant, they began moving in a circular pattern, slashing Retinite's weakened lower half into shards of destroyed bone. 

Shrieking with rage, Retinite flew its upper half back up, with the little core remaining below the rib cage. The monster glared at them with its single eye, and bright rainbow beams spiraled out of the orb, cutting through the three. 

"It is using the same Laser Spin technique that is within my capabilities!" Robo said, astonished. Frog wiped a trickle of blood off his leg and laughed shortly. 

"Thou art most mistkan if ye thinkest that shalt slay us! WATER 2!" By now, Retinite was almost melting. Crono jumped into the air for another confuse, severing an arm. Retinite was done playing; it was time for the ultimate. The entire room was covered in purple light as strange vectors ripped out from the beast, raining powerful shadow magic on them all. The three took it without even reeling; they knew that Retinite's time had come. 

"TRIPLE RAID!" Crono and Frog dashed forward, swords ready, with Robo between them in a tackle that would put a linebacker to shame. Retinite's upper body could not take the strain and fell apa,rt returning to the sand from whence it was created. The little core yelped and tried to run, but Frog skewered it with a Leap Slash, finishing Retinite once and for all. 

*** 

"You got rid of the monsters?!" Fiona said excitedly. Crono slowly nodded. 

"Yeah. After Retinite was dead, all the others just ran like hell. I guess he was drawing them here. Now, with them gone, you can bring the forest back!" 

"I only wish so..." Fiona sighed. Noticing the quizzical looks on their faces, she gestured at her husband. "While you were gone, Marco made some calculations... it would take around 300 years to revive the forest. No human could live that long... I'm afraid that my dream is impossible..." 

"It is true. However..." Everybody turned to look at Robo, who was speaking. "However, a robot could. Crono, do I have permission to help restore the forest?" 

"Whoa... are you sure about this, Robo?" Crono frowned, uncertain. "That's a long time..." 

"I know. However, I feel it is worth it. This forest needs to return." 

"An it please thee, Sir Robo." Frog nodded. "We shalt come for thee in 1000 AD." Crono and Frog climbed into Epoch and took off, while below, Robo began tilling the soil. 

****

JUNE 7, 1000 AD 

"Whoa..." Crono's jaw was hanging open as he stared at the beautiful forest below. The plan had worked; the great desert was gone, replaced by the trees which rightfully belonged there. Below them, where Fiona's house had been, was a cathedral-like shrine. 

Inside the shrine, several nuns turned to face them. "This is Fiona's Shrine. We give thanks every day to Fiona and Robo for restoring the forest. The remains of Robo are on the main podium." The two men eagerly ran up to see their friend again and gasped in shock. Robo was deactivated, covered in rust, soil, and other unidentifiable things. He smelled rather strongly of manure. 

"We canst not restore him..." Frog shook his head. "Only madam Lucca hath the neccessary skill. I shall switch with her." 

"Stand aside, Crono!" Lucca said after the trip was complete, bending over Robo. "This actually looks a lot worse than it is... all the damage was exterior. Let's reboot him..." Several tense moments passed in which Lucca fiddled with the robot. Finally, he stirred. 

"...circuits... reactivated... Hello, Crono and Lucca." 

"How have you been?" Crono asked him. Robo smiled. 

"...Good to be back. For you, it was only a short hop, but for me 400 long years have passed. I am happy to see you all again... Now, let us celebrate what is, for me, our 400th anniversary." 

*** 

All seven members (even Magus, surprisingly) were gathered around the campfire. Crono and Marle were stargazing, Lucca was working on Robo, Ayla was idly throwing rocks at a irritated Frog, and Magus was just watching the fire. Gaspar and Spekkio weren't allowed to leave the End of Time, apparently, and they weren't too keen on breaking any more rules after what happened last time. Robo was the one to break the silence. 

"I have been thinking... I do not think Lavos is the source of the Gates. It seems as if we are all being manipulated by some higher power." 

"You're right..." Marle said. "Have you heard Spekkio and Gaspar talk? About somebody they only call 'Them'?" 

"And there've been other hints of it too." Crono piped up. "Melchior, Belthasar, Azala, Zeal and Schala have all said things relating to these entities..." 

"If this is being controlled, it seems... somehow... like it's been done before." Robo took his turn again. "Like everything that we're doing is something that has happened before in essence..." 

"Uwaoo! Ayla see!" The cavewoman stopped chucking rocks at her amphibian target. "When person die, think about past! About life!" 

"Aye, she be right." Frog grudgingly admitted. "People doth often think upon their lives and accomplishments at the end." 

"Thinking 'I should have done this' or 'I wish I had done that' triggers unpleasant, old memories." Robo took the floor again. "People strive to change what they did wrong." 

"Huh..." Lucca looked up. "So it seems even the Entities can't choose direct parts of their own lives to fix. They have to just remember, like us." 

"Do you have any time you'd want to go back to, Lucca?" Marle asked. "Is there anything in your past you'd like to change?" 

"..." The scientest said nothing, her face bitter. Marle immediately got the hint. 

"I'm sorry... did I say something wrong?" 

"Nothing... it's nothing." Nobody spoke as Lucca returned to repairing Robo. Eventually, Magus got down from the tree he had been in. 

"So... who are these 'entities'? And why are they using us like this?" The mage's face was suspicious. He obviously didn't like the idea of being manipulated. Robo's eyes glittered as Lucca closed him back up. 

"I think our adventures will be over when we discover that... shall we turn in for the night?" 

*** 

"Uhh... MOM! Augh!" Lucca woke up in a cold sweat. She had been dreaming about... that incident... again. She looke around at everybody. Robo was closest to her, hunched over in deactivation. next was Frog, followed by Crono and Marle side-by-side. After them came Ayla, and then on the east edge of the clearing was Magus in a tree again. Lucca decided to go for a walk to attempt recovery from the nightmare. 

"Why's it so quiet?" She noticed after a few minutes. "Where are all the animals? And what's that wierd humming noise?" Her questions were answered when she turned a corner and found herself facing a bright red gate. "Whoa!" Lucca immediately ran back to the campfire. "Hey, guys! I found a wierd Gate! ... Hey, wake up!" Upon further inspection, she discovered that they were all rock-hard, like statues. Lucca frowned and remembered what Marle, Frog and Magus had said of Death Peak. "So, this is a time freeze... I guess whoever's doing this wants me to go in that Gate... well, here goes." 

****

JULY 2, 990 AD 

"... my room?" Lucca looked around. It was her room, but instead of the books and machines which were supposed to be there, it filled with dolls and toys. Lucca picked up a sheet of paper on the floor. 

_Dear Diary, Dad promised to take me hiking but blew me off AGAIN. I HATE science! I loathe it!_

"So... this is... that day..." Lucca growled. "It looks as if I've gotten a second chance after all, and be damned if that thing happens again!" She crept down into Taban's lab and looked at the booklet for his latest invention. 

_The password... is the name of my beautiful wife. Use it in an emergency. -Taban _

"Okay, then!" Lucca walked out into the main room and froze. It was about to start! 

"Goodness, what does this machine do?" Lucca's mother, Lara, peered at the conveyer belt leading to the dark opening. "Taban said to keep away from it, but it's so dusty. I'll just... Oh my! My dress! It's caught!" Suddenly, with a whir and a clank, the machine activated, dragging Lara towards the opening! "AAAAAAHHH!! Lucca, turn it off! Quick!" 

"But I don't know the password!" The little seven-year-old Lucca protested. Lara saw sharp, wicked-looking machinery grinding inside the opening and almost fainted. On the other side of the machine, the teenaged Lucca ran to a keyboard. 

"Enter user name... enter password... L A R A. Commands... stop!" With a hiss of steam, the machine ground to a halt, with Lara just inches from the opening. The conveyer belt released Lara's dress, and she practically flew off, scooping little Lucca up. 

"...A miracle..." 

"Was it a guardian angel, mommy?" Little Lucca asked, eyes wide. Lara looked down at her, smiling and crying at the same time. 

"Yes... a guardian angel..." Unknown to both of them, the teenaged Lucca fled, her eyes also brimming. 

*** 

Lucca was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, when she heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet approaching. Searching the room frantically, the scientest dove under the bed just before her childhood self entered. Little Lucca sat down at the desk and began composing a new journal entry. 

"Dear Diary, I feel as if I learned something today. Machines can be used to help, but they can also cause pain. I'll start studying them, so nothing like this ever happens again!" With that completed, the seven-year-old left. As soon as she was done, the Gate reappeared with a whoosh, and the 17-year-old Lucca jumped in, eager to leave before she was discovered. 

****

JUNE 8, 1000 AD 

"Robo!" Lucca shouted as she saw the robot waiting for her. "What are you doing?" 

"...Waiting for you." Robo said. "When I woke, I noticed you were gone. I don't know how I knew where you were, but I did. ... Lucca, you have a kind heart. You're always thinking of others. I would like you to have something." He held up a beautiful brown and green medallion, softly glowing. "This is made from petrified amber. It took 400 years and a lot of pressure to make. I hope you like it." Lucca smiled and took the pendant from him, her eyes shining. 

"Robo... you're so sweet." 

****

JUNE 8, 0000 XD 

"Spekkio, I need to talk with you about something." Lucca said as she walked into the shape-shifter's room alone. Spekkio grunted at her. 

"Yeah, I know. It was a gift from them." 

"A gift?" She repeated slowly. 

"Yeah. Now, tell spiker to choose another quest. This one's gonna be important." Back in the lobby, Robo was placing his hand on the white stone. Gaspar nodded and began to speak. 

"There's a task to be done in the future, on the island where machines originated... due south from Proto Dome is the way..." 

"Not me." Lucca groaned. "Not only did I just go through that dumb adventure, I worked on a new bomb design all through the night. It was hard to even come up with a name; the best I could do was "Mega Bomb". I'm pooped." 

"Alright." Magus frowned. "I'm coming. This sounds interesting." 

"Okay. Robo's obviously coming, so we've got a team." Crono concluded. "Let's get on the road! Oh, new rule from now on; anybody singing in the Epoch gets shot! I'm looking in YOUR direction, Lucca!" The scientest just grumbled something about Zed Leppelin as Crono, Robo and Magus took off. 

****

JUNE 8, 2300 AD 

"This must be our destination..." Crono said as he landed the Epoch on an island with a single factory on it. "Robo, does this place look familiar to you?" 

"...Affirmative. Geno Dome... the place where I was... created? Memory circuits unstable..." The place's first room appeared to have no way on; only a single computer screen. Robo slowly approached it and turned it on. As soon as he did, a metallic, though female voice came from a speaker in a corner. 

"Who's th... oh. Prometheus. It's about time you came back..." Robo's eyes dimmed, and he began to topple forward. Crono held him up, and after a moment, Magus helped set the robot down more gently. 

"Robo! What happened? Robo!" 

****

JANUARY 1, 2100 AD 

"..." The gold-colored robot opened his eyes. "I... am Prometheus." Looking around, he saw seven others similar to him performing the same type of waking. Six were a deep blue, and the last was a bright pink. 

"... Achilles... Heracles... Orpheus... Helios... Hephaestus... Icarus... Atropos." They all turned to look at each other, Prometheus included. All had the exact same question on their minds. Who are these others? A low fizzing and crackling came from the screen in front of them, and all eight turned to look as the screen fizzed into life. It showed what appeared to be a video recording of an ancient man looking into a recorder. 

"Hello, all of you. I... am your creator. My name is not important. What is important is you. I have created you to be the next generation of robots. Robots that can actually think for themselves. Unfortunately, I am only human. My life is at an end, and you are not complete. Therefore, I have imprinted the plans into this place's computers, and left them to finish the job. All that is left for me to do now is to tell you about yourselves." 

"Achilles, Heracles, Orpheus, Helios, Hephaestus and Icarus. The six of you are designed to work as a team, both in combat and in science. You are not as strong in either path as Prometheus and Atropos, but you make up for that with the power of teamwork." 

"Atropos, you are designed to be a pure warrior. You have the finest combat systems ever created, and some truly frightening power. I only hope you are able to tell how to use these powers for good, and not for evil." 

"Prometheus, you are the most experimental of the group. You have almost no fighting ability, but your mental capabilities far outdo the others. You should be able to create many wondrous things." The old scientest walked over to the camera, reaching to turn it off. "You all have my blessings, my daughter and sons. Make me proud." The screen clicked off, leaving the eight newly-activated robots staring at each other, still unenlightened as to their own destinies. 

*** 

"Hey, Prometheus! Get your metal butt out of stasis, we got work to do!" Prometheus groaned. Over the three months of his life, Icarus had quickly risen to be the most annoying of his brothers. Raising the lid of the capsule, Prometheus slowly extricated himself. 

"For the last time, Icarus, it's not..." 

"'Not a stasis capsule, it's an Enertron.' Yeah, yeah, yeah." Icarus mimicked. 

"Plus, I was only in there for 10 seconds." Prometheus attempted to raise a metallic eyebrow in a manner humans often did. 

"Do you know how long that is in cycles?!" Icarus raised his arms mock-pleadingly, and they both shared a good laugh. The door hissed open, and a pink figure wearing a light blue bow walked in. 

"Hey, you two. Orpheus sent me down to bring you back to the lab." Icarus's eyes widened as he realized what she meant by that. 

"AHHHH! IT'S THE AMAZON QUEEN! RUN AWAAAAAAAY!!!!" Prometheus just stood there, watching amusedly as Atropos chased the renegade down and picked him up by the neck. Icarus glared at the gold robot. 

"Traitor. We could've double-teamed her." 

"Oh, no, my friend." Prometheus shook his head, laughing again. "The LAST time you suggested it, I ended up going through the door... without it being open first. Yeesh." Atropos laughed along as she began dragging the unruly Icarus down the hall. 

"You see, Icarus? Prometheus doesn't make me chase him down. He does what I say. Isn't that sweet?" Icarus mumbled something about pet dogs, and Atropos cold-cocked him again. "I think you've been reading late 20th-century comic books again." At this, Icarus's eyes lit up. 

"Just you wait. One of these days, I WILL become the next Superman!" Prometheus suddenly grinned at an idea, and he looked at Atropos. 

"Actually, I think you WILL. In fact, I think if you wanted, you could fly right now!" Atropos grinned as well, realizing the meaning in his words. Icarus, however, was oblivious, his mind filled with images of a stocky blue robot soaring through the halls with a red cape. 

"WOO-HOO! Okay, I'll try! Come on, Atropos, let go of me so I can fly!" Atropos looked down, her face expressionless. 

"You want to fly?" 

"Yes!" 

"You REALLY want to?" 

"YES!" 

"Okay, then..." Atropos suddenly acquired a malicious grin. "If you insist!" Icarus grew pale. 

"NO! WAIT! I DIDN'T MEAN I-" 

"BOMBS AWAY!!!" With a mighty heave, the pink robot threw Icarus over the edge of the stairway leading down to the lab. Prometheus listened carefully, and after a few seconds, heard several crashes accompanied by strings of invective. Prometheus and Atropos both laughed until they were sore. 

"Hey!" Achilles poked his head up from the stairs. "Mind telling me why there's a mangled heap of Icarus down there calling you things that I'm fairly certain are both physically and mentally impossible?" 

"Uh..." The gold and pink robots looked at each other, desperately searching for an answer. It was Prometheus who thought it up. 

"He... he went Maverick! Yeah!" Atropos nodded solemnly. 

"Tried to turn us both into Metools. Had no choice but to off him." Achilles rolled his eyes as well as he could. 

"Yeah. Right. We've already had to restrict Icarus from comics. Don't make us put limits on your video games as well." He sighed. "Come on, then. The new Enertron is almost done!" He ran down ahead. Prometheus and Atropos started down, the pink robot asking about the newest project. 

"So, you're making an Enertron that humans can use?" 

"That's right." Prometheus affirmed. "It converts the energy we use into a form that humans can process before releasing it. It's actually pretty simple. Creating that new Area Bomb enhencement for you... now THAT was tricky." Atropos smiled, remembering that present. 

"You're something special, you know that Prometheus?" The gold robot blushed a little as he heard this, his eyes idly taking in Achilles trying to scrape Icarus off the floor. 

"You're pretty special yourself." 

*** 

"Six months." Icarus complained. "Six freakin' months and I STILL don't have an Area Bomb module!" 

"Icarus, you're beginning to annoy us again." Heracles grumbled as he looked up from his coffee. "Cram it, or Atropos will do something not nice to you." 

"Bleah to you too." Icarus responded. "Dammit, I want an Area Bomb!" 

"So you can be some sort of Blue Bomber?" Orpheus commented snidely. 

"Cram it, you. And remind me again why we're having coffee. We're ROBOTS, for christ's sake! We could just use the Enertron!" 

"The Enertron's fine and dandy, Icarus." Prometheus answered. "But sometimes it just feels nice to have something to eat or drink." Atropos raised an eyebrow. 

"Really? I thought it was just because it tastes good." They all laughed. "And besides, it doesn't do any harm." 

"Unless you count bacon grease clogging up my voice." Orpheus commented. 

"So, anyway." Hephaestus moved the conversation on. "What's the newest invention idea?" 

"Well..." Prometheus frowned. "We shipped off the Jet Bike to the mainland anonymously. I think our next project will be some upgrades to the Proto and Bugger lines of lesser robots. For now, let's just concentrate on power, but eventually, maybe we can bring some up to our level of thought." 

"Ooooh! Prometheus wants to start a family!" Icarus teased. The gold robot blushed deeply. For some reason, Atropos did too. Icarus's eyes grew wide. 

"WHOA! Atropos and Prometheus sitting in a tree, OOOOOOWWWW!!!" Hephaestus and Helios had grabbed him and rammed his head into a wall. Afterwards, they took him out into the hall, muttering darkly about "time for the 'rehabilitator' again..." Orpheus, who was the most smart-mouthed after Icarus, wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. Atropos recovered from her bout of embarrassment and moved the conversation on. 

"Okay. Where are we going to get some Protos and Buggers to work on?" 

"Why, right here, of course." Prometheus smiled. "The creator left an entire room full of inactive ones. Shall we get to work, then?" A flushing sound came from a room which had been used by humans as a restroom, followed by Hephaestus and Helios returning, giving each other a high-five. 

*** 

"Yes..." 

The ragged, filthy man crouched in front of a keyboard, his eyes going back and forth at a maddening pace. "Must make sure... nobody here... nobody here but me and it..." Satisfying his fears, the man returned his gaze to the screen. "Final command... inputted! Virus complete! Hee hee hee hee hee hee..." The man pressed the button that would release his virus into the world. "My virus will seek out all the mechanical things in the world, starting with the strongest, and conquer them! Eventually, I will rule the entire world, and I will destroy Lavos with the machinery of this entire planet! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." 

Unknown to the insane man, however, the virus had other plans. Without knowing it, he had created a virus that was self-aware. For the moment, though, its plans coincided with his. Find the strongest mechanical place on the planet... and conquer it. Geno Dome. 

*** 

"Prometheus?" 

"Yes, Atropos?" The gold robot turned from his desk to look at her. Atropos's face was worried. 

"Something's up. Have you noticed all the Proto 4s and Debuggests have been acting odd?" 

"Yeah..." Prometheus frowned. "But I think it's just a glitch. We should be able to fix it before they ship tomorrow." 

"But that's not all." Atropos objected. "All the machinery in the factory is operating at only half efficiency!" 

"All?!" Prometheus said disbelievingly. "I thought it was just my comp... let's call the others down to the lounge. This could be serious." The eight robots all gathered, the other six also noticing the problems. 

"It's freaky." Icarus summed it up. "Like something else is controlling it all..." 

"Icarus, look out!" Heracles pushed his brother out of the way as a laser zapped through the air where the wisecracker had been a moment before. Eight pairs of eyes turned towards the door from which the laser had come, and eight robotic faces grew pale. Every Proto 4 and Debuggest in the factory was there, and they did not look friendly. The robots had gone berserk. Icarus glanced at his five teammates and knew they all had similar thoughts before turning to the two unique models. 

"Prometheus! Atropos! Get to the supply ship, it's your only hope!" The blue robot yelled. 

"But what about you?" 

"We'll hold them off! You two escape!" 

"What?!" Atropos shrieked. "Are you insane?! There's no way you six can take on that many!" 

"I KNOW, DAMMIT!" Icarus finally lost it. "IT DOESN'T MATTER! WHAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU GET AWAY! NOW, GO!!!" Prometheus and Atropos gazed at the faces of all six of their brothers, then simultaneously turned and dashed through the other door. The six doomed R-Series turned to face their opponents, bitter smiles on all their faces. Icarus was the only one to speak, laughing insanely as he did. 

"Ach, come on then, ye fools! It be a good day to die! Ah was born in a hurricane and me first meal was lightning! Ah'm Icarus, son of the storm!" 

"What the hell was THAT?" Orpheus asked. Icarus shrugged. 

"Beats me. Sounded cool though, didn't it? Oh well, let's get on with it! Betcha a nutty bar I can slag more than you!" And thus, the six noble robots charged into the fray. 

*** 

"There's the door to the conveyer belt!" Atropos yelled. Prometheus examined it quickly and groaned. 

"It's locked! Whoever's behind this did their job right..." Atropos looked around wildly for a means of escape and smiled briefly. 

"The garbage chute!" Prometheus nodded. 

"You're a genius, Atropos! Ladies first!" They quickly slid down and emerged in the lobby, with only one more door between them and freedom. 

"NO! It's locked too!" Prometheus cursed. Atropos stepped up. 

"I'll make a new one. Stand back, Prometheus..." He did, knowing her intent. "AREA BOMB!" A massive explosion of red fire energy blew out of her, completely destroying the door. "Let's go!" They charged out, seeing the transit ship waiting on the bay. It was at that moment that things really went to hell in a handbasket. From the door behind them poured the much-diminished but still intact army. And at the front were six stocky blue humanoid robots. The leader stepped up. 

"You have no hope of escape. Surrender and prepare for reprogramming." 

"Icarus?" Prometheus mumbled disbelievingly. It shook its head. 

"There is no Icarus. I am R-64Y." 

"Prometheus, it's no good! They've been taken, just like the others!" Atropos shouted. Her gold partner assessed the situation. 

"We can't get the ship moving before we get here! What do we do?" Prometheus slowly began to panic. Atropos looked down, thinking. 

"... There's no way around it. I'll hold them off." 

"WHA-" 

"No! Don't interrupt, I want to do this!" 

"But Atropos... I love you! I can't leave you here!" Prometheus said desperately. Atropos groaned. 

"You oversized toaster, didn't it ever occur to you that I love you too? One of us has to hold them off, and you're a scientest, not a fighter! I'm lost, even if you're the one who stays!" 

"But..." 

"No! Now, GO! Get away from this place!" Finally, her words sank in, and the golden robot's mind accepted them. 

"Atropos... I'll never forget you.." She blinked, then suddenly grabbed him in a fierce hug. 

"... Prometheus... I love you... and I promise I'll never forget you no matter WHAT happens! Now run!" Releasing him, she charged at the mob as Prmetheus crawled onto the ship and activated it. He could not bring himself to look back as he went, and so did not see as Atropos eventually went down under sheer weight of numbers, dragging more foes down with her even as she went. 

*** 

After a week of travel, Prometheus finally washed up on a shore of the mainland. 

"Ugh... according to scanners, I am near Proto Dome. I hope the people will accept me..." Prometheus slowly trudged in. It was mostly he expected; dank, dismal, ruined. The humans stirred as they began to notice him, and one man in his mid-forties approached him directly. 

"Hey, stranger. You're a robot, right? I'm Walt. Nice to meet ya." 

"My name... is Prometheus." The robot said. "I am a refugee. I wish to stay here." 

"Well, the more the merrier!" Walt laughed. "We've already got another robot living here. Hey, Johnny! Johnny, come here!" From the crowd came a whirring noise, followed by a pink blur whizzing over their heads. It did three circles around the astonished Prometheus, then came to a stop. It was a strange motorcycle-like robot, which quickly transformed into a humanoid shape. 

"Hey, kid. I'm Johnny Turbo. How ya doing?" Prometheus smiled weakly, happy to find a friend of his "species" here. 

"I... am just fine... just fine indeeeeeee..." Seemingly out of nowhere, he toppled forward, in stasis. Walt and Johnny caught him, whistling as they saw the corroded spots where the rough waves had rusted him. 

"Sheez... this guy's been through the wringer. Put him in the Enertron. And when he wakes up, do NOT ask him about his past." 

*** 

"So, what kind of community do you have here?" Prometheus inquired. He had recovered quickly after a trip in the Enertron, and was now being given the tour by Walt and Johnny. 

"Well, look around." Walt said, unsmiling. "The world is hell, thanks to Lavos." His face suddenly changed to a wide grin. "But we don't let that stop us! Make the best of what you have is our motto. Johnny here was a community project." 

"Yare." The mohawked robot picked up. "We're probly the best-off group of folks in the world right now. Up north is an abandoned factory; we've been thinking about extending operations up there." 

"Excellent." Prometheus said approvingly. "I shall enjoy it here... who is that?" 

"Eh?" Walt looked over at the filthy pile of human in the corner. "Oh. That's Malkin. Real unfriendly type; he sticks to himself and nobody's interested enough to go near him. We can't just toss him out, so he stays even though he's not part of the community." Johnny snorted. 

"Bad news. That's what I think. You should've tossed him out long ago, Walt. Something's up with that creep." 

*** 

"So, we're going to make an expedition up to the Factory tomorrow?" Prometheus inquired. Walt nodded as he packed some meager provisions. 

"Yeah. If we can get it running, it'll be a great gain for us. There's a lot of old storage in there; food, energy, all that stuff. You coming with us?" 

"Sure he is, Walt!" Prometheus started to turn, but found he could not; Johnny had put him into a friendly headlock. "My buddy Promo here is always up for a hike! Ain't that right, Promo!" 

"...Johnny, I do wish you would stop calling me that." After a few days, Johnny had decided that Prometheus was too cumbersome, and had given his friend the nickname "Promo". It irritated the gold robot to no end. 

"Yeah, yeah. Now, come on! It'll be fun! Who wouldn't enjoy a little sunshine, fresh air and acid rain? I'm coming, after all!" 

"That in itself says something for the sanity of this trip." Walt commented. "Sometimes I think we scrambled a few circuits when we built you, Johnny." 

"Naaaaah!" Johnny said, shaking his head. He suddenly remembered Prometheus and released the headlock. The gold robot stumbled upright and blinked dourly. 

"Very well. I shall accompany, if for no other reason than to keep Johnny from driving the rest of you insane." Johnny wasn't offended; he just laughed. 

"Attaboy! Here, I'll even let you wear these!" With a deft movement, Johnny plucked the shades off of his eyes and placed them on Prometheus. Walt took a look and immediately fell over laughing. 

*** 

"What the hell is that?" Johnny commented at the orange blob oozing across the Factory floor. Prometheus frowned at it. 

"An extremely acidic life form. A strong Alkaline should neutralize it." Johnny looked around and spotted a similar green blob. He smiled. 

"No problem, Promo! PUNT!" Winding up, he gave a powerful kick to the orange blob, sending it squealing through the air into the green blob. All hell broke loose as the globs exploded. 

"WHOA!" Johnny and Prometheus moved between it and the humans. When the explosion was over, Walt was the first to laugh. 

"Looks like you need to go back to science class, Prometheus! Ha!" Johnny grinned. 

"Naaah, Promo's never wrong! It's just... uh... the green thing had just eaten a grenade! Yeah!" 

_He's almost like Icarus..._ Prometheus thought sadly. _I wonder whatever happened to all of them... _

"Awright, I think this Factory's as good as we can get it right now." Walt judged. "Johnny, can you go on a supply raid? The rest of us will go back to Proto Dome." 

"Awww... can't Prometheus come with?" Johnny pleaded. Walt shook his head. 

"No, Johnny. Prometheus isn't as fast as you, and we want to get this over with ASAP." 

"Awww... fine!" Cursing, Johnny soared off. Prometheus stared after him. 

"I think his logic circuits are exploded or something." 

"We've known that for months." Walt said glumly. 

*** 

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Prometheus exclaimed as loudly as possible. Proto Dome was a mess; wreckage everywhere. The gold robot caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked to see... "A Proto 4?" 

"Ah, brother! So good of you to join us!" A blue, humanoid robot walked out, laughing. "We were all wondering where you had gone!" 

"I... Icarus?" Prometheus was stunned. The blue robot blew a raspberry. 

"Bzzzt! Wrong! The name's R-64Y, cretin! Are you ready to join us? Atropos misses you... she's very eager to bring you back in the family..." 

"You lie!" Prometheus growled desperately. "You don't have her!" 

"Denial, denial... how sweet is thy sting!" R-64Y said mockingly. 

"YOU DON'T!" Prometheus charged, screaming, attempting to crush this mockery of his brother flat. R-64Y grinned. 

"Bad move, brother mine! AREA BOMB!" The tumult of fire blew Prometheus away, knocking him into stasis. While this was going, two more of the R-Series were rounding up the humans. R-64Y scoffed and kicked Prometheus's still form. 

"Pathetic. Come on, humans! Come meet Mother Brain!" 

"I knew it!" Shrieking, the filthy man known as Malkin jumped out from the corner he dwelled in. "It is Mother Brain! I made her! My virus! Now, I command you all!" 

"Oh, really?" R-64Y sneered. "In that case, you shall have the honor of going first!" He slammed a metal fist into Malkin's head, flooring the human, before turning to the others. "R-67Y! R-69Y! Get those humans onto the boat! They need to meet Mother..." 

****

JUNE 8, 2300 AD 

"Ur..." Robo got back up. "What... happened after that, I do not know... I may have been infected, or I may have just been left behind..." 

"So, that's your past... interesting, to say the least." Magus commented. "It seems almost everybody in this little group has a screwed-up family life. Aren't we all the happy bunch?" 

"So, would Atropos still be here?" Crono asked. The response did not come from Robo, but from the speaker, in that same female robotic voice. 

"Yes... yes I am. I can't believe you're defiling this place with undrugged humans, Prometheus. It almost makes me reonsider wanting to see you again... I know. I'll give you three a little... test. If you're strong enough, you get to come in. Have fun..." As soon as the speaker cut off, the door that led farther in opened. Crono smiled. 

"Stupid. Come on, Robo; this place has been left alone for too long." Robo roused himself, determination in his eyes. 

"Yes... it is time that I dealt with my past. I'm coming, Atropos." 

"Then what are we waiting for?" Magus said impatiently. "Let's get this show on the road!" 

The door led to a large, long conveyer belt. The three got on, and it started up. After only a few moments, they were joined by two grey robots of the Bugger line. 

"Debuggests." Robo said gloomily. "They can use Laser Spin. Shadow magic will not work." He looked back up to see that his allies had already sliced and diced the foes. "Or you could just do that." The next attack was two Proto 4s. "They use Shadow Beam; also immune to Shadow Magic." 

"Big deal." Magus called back as he used his scythe to cut a robot in half. "We seem to be coping adequately without magic." The next attack was more serious, though; 2 of each breed of robot. "Shit. Nevermind. Hey, spikehead! Now would be a good time for that big electric bubble of yours!" 

"'Big electric bubble'?" Crono repeated, mildly offended. But he complied, using Luminaire to wipe them out. The conveyer belt whirred to a halt, having reached the end, and another speaker came to life. 

"Very good... perhaps I misjudged you. You should feel honored; you are the first humans ever allowed free reign of the Factory. I'm waiting, Prometheus..." 

"So this is Geno Dome." Crono said once they had gone through the next door. "It looks kinda like the Factory... but more advanced. And confusing. Robo, how'd you keep things straight? This place is like a maze!" 

"...Let us explore this floor fully before going on to the upper level. Left, please." Continuing onward, with Robo guiding them, the group of three killed two more Debuggests guarding a dead-end corridor. Once they had done so, the speakers gave voice again. 

"300 years ago, the Lavos disaster greatly changed the planet, in case you hadn't noticed. This planet just can't support humans any more... at this rate, they'll die out from pure despair." 

"Shut up." Magus called back. "Hello, what's this? This one's green..." 

"That's a Proto 2... inferior." Crono noted. "Why do they have this thing here?" He started forward, but as soon as he began to move past the Proto 2, it darted over and sent him flying backward. "The hell?!" 

"Hmm..." Robo scanned it. "It is equipped with a heavy-duty force field. Our weapons and magic will be unable to penetrate it." 

"Well, that's just ducky. What's it guarding, anyway?" Magus looked over the robot, then shook his head. "...A Poyozo Doll. I think your girlfriend's got a few screws loose." Robo did not comment, and instead led them down another passage. The left path at a fork led them to a sealed door with a strange opening to the right. Robo frowned. 

"Some new security system... I do not recognize it. Let us check the main computer." Back to the fork, taking the other path found three easily-dealt with Proto 4s protecting another one of those openings and an access screen. Robo stepped up and tapped in. 

"Let me see... ah! To open doors, we must power the capsules next to them. I can aquire a temporary charge from this one right here. ... The Guard Robot can be disabled by bringing its partner. ... Aha! The doll! There are two of them. They have the access codes for the main computer room inside them." 

"So, whoever's running this show isn't deranged. She just has a sick sense of humor." Magus revised his earlier opinion. Robo refrained from comment as he stepped into the power pod. as soon as he did, a thin white aura appeared over him, and the robot immediately turned and dashed towards the first pod. He made it easily, and inside the small room that it guarded was a Poyozo Doll. Crono picked it up and examined it before shrugging and tucking it into his pack. 

They trekked back to the entrance, having explored the entire left wing. Directly to the right of where they had entered was another capsule and door. 

"The elevator." Robo remembered. "We can do this after we finish the first floor." Further ahead was a conveyer belt moving against them. At the end, both the left and right passages were barred by lasers. 

"The elevator, then." Crono decided. They took it up to find a one-way hall ahead. Another door was to their right, but they ignored it and proceeded down the hall. As they did, flashes and sirens from the left and right drew their attention to several mechanical spheres embedded in the floor. 

"Laser Guards." Robo reckognized them. "We must destroy them fast or they will self-destruct." 

"Look no further." Magus grinned, a rare event for him. "I just remembered another spell. DARK MIST!" As the mage cast his spell, a floating blob of darkness rushed down the hall, destroying all the Laser Guards as it went. "Finally, something here not immune to Shadow." 

"Very nice." Crono called back as he and Robo walked on. Stifling a Trollish curse, Magus chased after. Eventually, they came to a dead-end wall, with two green holders about the size of a Poyozo Doll in front. 

"This is the only way into the main computer room." Robo told his friends. "We NEED that other Doll. Let us try the other elevator and see where it takes us." As they went back, though, Crono spotted a ladder hanging down from an edge. 

"Hey, look. What's down there?" As it turned out, the ladder led to a horror. A conveyer belt carried a battered human down its length and into a hole, where a horrible scream emerged. 

"No...! What are they doing?" Robo moaned. Magus frowned, disapproving. 

"A human processing plant... that's just sick. Not even Ozzie'd do that. He'd KILL the human, but that... ugh. I think I speak for all of us when I say I would be glad to blow this place away." 

"Yes." Robo confirmed. "Unfortunately, it is heavily shielded. We must shut down the main computer. As I said before, let us go to the second elevator." As they started to head back, though, another loudspeaker began preaching. 

"Don't you understand? This plane would be peaceful if there were no humans around. And yet you still fight? Why?" 

"Shut up." Crono called up as the elevator descended. It dropped them off behind one of the lasers that had blocked the way earlier. A switch turned both off, and they went across to find one more door with a capsule and a switch. 

"There's no way you can make it with a charge in time with the conveyer belt moving against you!" Crono exclaimed. Robo flipped the switch, and the conveyer belt reversed. "Oh." 

Even with this, it was quite a run, and so began the only entertaining part of this entire incident for Crono and Magus, as they watched Robo try to reach the far-off door from the charge pod. The first time he tripped over the belt. The second time he smashed into the wall NEXT to the goal pod. The third time he went the wrong way. Finally, on his fourth try the robot made it. Inside the door was the second Guard Robot. 

"Just what we needed!" Crono grinned openly. "Come on, buddy!" Once Robo activated it, the robot followed them like a lost puppy, earning it the name "Fido". Unfotunately, Fido appeared to have some broken parts; it was slow and often unwieldy. Several times it got stuck going around a corner and was discovered ramming into the wall. Finally, they made it to the obnoxious guard who blocked the second Doll. Crono ushered their new friend forward. 

"Fido, meet Creepy. You two have a nice chat!" As the robots met, both of them depowered, and Robo freely walked forward to take the second doll. 

*** 

"Hear me, humans." A loudspeaker in the elevator was spouting as they rode up. "Lavos's children will one day have to leave to seek new planets, and prey. This world COULD sustain them... if there were no humans around... we robots will create a new order. A nation of steel, and pure logic. A true paradise! Our 'species' will replace you... so stop your foolish struggle and succumb to the sleep of eternity..." 

"SHUT UP!!!" Both Crono and Magus yelled as the elevator reached its destination. 

"First you talk about 'peace' then spout nonsense about making room for Lavos's children? You sure are inconsistent." Crono observed angrily. 

"Besides, we already killed Lavos's brats. Which punts the need for YOUR goals out the window!" Magus followed up. Robo, as usual, said nothing, continuing down the hall. 

Somebody was waiting. 

"It's been a while, Prometheus." Atropos said calmly. "Welcome home." 

"A... Atropos?" The gold robot said uncertainly. His pink counterpart moved closer, smiling. 

"Yes. You can stop pretending now, and join us." 

"What?! What are you talking about?" Crono gasped. Magus said nothing. 

"...I have no memory of what happened after the attack on Proto Dome, Atropos." He frowned. "But I am not allied with you." 

"Mwa ha ha... it's okay, Prometheus. You can stop now." She addressed Crono and Magus for the first time. "Unlike the other R-Series, Prometheus had a special task. To live with humans, and study them..." 

"Lies!" Crono shouted. Magus made a noise that sounded like "I see..." Robo turned away, unable to face them, not knowing what he had done between the Proto Dome incident and his discovery by Lucca. 

"Atropos... you've changed." She began laughing. 

"Yes. Mother remade me to eliminate humans more efficiently!" 

"That's it." Magus snorted. "Since Robo is so obviously guilty by word of this enemy of ours who we just met, we're going to go away now and abandon him." A chill smile touched the mage's features. "How STUPID do you think we are? I think this bucket of bolts needs a little battery replacement, spike-head. It looks like we'll have to operate. I don't really have high hopes for the patient's survival." Crono nodded, a vicious grin coming to his face. Atropos laughed again. 

"Foolish humans... you shall go next on the processing line!" 

WHANG! The metal clang as Robo decked Atropos rang in everybody's ears. He stood between his former girlfriend and his current allies, blocking the way. "I will not let you harm them." Her metallic eyes seemed to widen. 

"Eh? Don't be silly, Prometheus. You're a scientest, not a fighter! You can't stand against me!" 

"My name is Robo." He shook his head. 

"Prometheus!" 

"Robo!" 

"PROMETHEUS!" She slammed forward, belting him just as he had done a moment before. Immediately Crono and Magus drew their weapons, ready to fight. Before the scuffle began, though, Robo got up and held up his arms. 

"Please. This is my fight." Slowly, they nodded and retreated, and Robo turned to face Atropos. 

"I have no choice left... forgive me, Atropos." Without a word, they began exchanging blows, back and forth. Rocket Punch to Rocket Punch. Laser Spin to Laser Spin. Robot Tackle to Robot Tackle. Atropos was the first to break the silence. 

"Prometheus, you have grown strong. But you are still the inferior model! UZI PUNCH!" She jumped forward and began punching him over and over again at high speed. Robo took all the blows in stride, waiting until she finished before leaping forward. As he did, a voice rang through his head. _The forehead... aim for the forehead..._ "UZI PUNCH!" Robo's attack was far stronger. Where Atropos had attacked him in the body, Robo's punches all went for her forehead, and her gasps of pain were long and loud. Finally, she released one that was not a gasp of pain, but of realization. 

"I... AM... AAAARRGGGHHH!!!" With her final energy, she unleashed the Area Bomb, the wave of explosive fire that had been Prometheus's gift to her, long ago. And when the smoke cleared, he still stood, the victor. 

"P... Promethus? I... told you to get away... but... how long has it been?" The virus had been deleted, and her mind was free, but Robo knew this was not to last. The wounds were too much. Atropos was dying. 

"It is 2300, Atropos." 

"That long...? ...Ugh... something nasty must have happened to me... Prometheus, I can remember what I did while... evil. All that... was a lie. You were never infected. The virus... altered the memory of the others to believe that..." 

"We guessed as much." Crono said. He and Magus had walked up silently while they were talking. "That's one nasty batch of data." 

"Yes..." Atropos coughed. "Prometheus, you have grown to be more of a warrior than me. Many years ago, you granted me the Area Bomb, in a module in the form of a bright blue ribbon. Now, I want you to have it." Robo slowly detached the ribbon from her and placed it on his wrist. Atropos looked up, smiling. _Finally, I can rest... my life was agony after those six months... Prometheus, please, make this time better... for us all..._ "Prometheus, do me one last favor." 

"What is it, Atropos?" He said sadly. 

"Destroy the one who caused all this suffering, the one who ruined the world for everybody and everything. Destroy Lavos for me. Goodbye... Prometheus..." The light of life left Atropos's eyess, and Robo slowly got to his feet. 

"I will, Atropos..." He whispered, and his eyes changed from sorrow to fury. "But before that, there is a virus that I need to dispose of!" 

Even years later, Robo did not remember the final hall filled with Laser Guards. Vaguely he had images of emerging from a massive explosion to place the dolls on their spots as his allies ran up behind him, and seeing the wall ahead split in two. 

The main computer chamber of Geno Dome was a huge wall dominated by three big displays. In the middle of the floor was a set of green lights. As the three entered, beams of light shot out from the displays. Where they met, a form appeared. It was shining all over with rainbow light; a head resembling that of a beautiful human female with a machine-like neck and shoulders. 

"Greetings. I am the Mother Brain of this facility." 

"No." Robo said flatly. "You are a virus. You shall be terminated." 

"Don't be silly, Prometheus." She laughed. "I'll make it all better. I'll rewire your brain and reconfigure your memories. Then we can dispose of these..." 

"SHUT UP!" Robo yelled. "If I did not listen to Atropos, what makes you think I would listen to you? You, the one who destroyed the minds of Atropos and all my brothers? You have much to answer for, virus." 

"You would side with the humans?" The virus asked incredulously. Robo nodded. 

"Crono, Marle, Lucca, Frog, Ayla, and Magus... they are all my friends, and I have learned much from them." At this, Mother Brain displayed her first real emotion. She appeared to be laughing, but they could all tell that she was raging behind it. 

"Ho ho ho... this is rich! YOU, have feelings? Well, in that case, allow me to show you how weak you are!" Robo raised the Sun Shades that Lucca had placed on him to look over them in a way he had often seen Johnny do and shot the virus a look of pure hatred. 

"As Icarus would say... bring it on, bitch." 

*** 

"Laser Spin!" The prismatic beams shot out from Mother Brain's forehead, but the group was unfazed. Crono jumped onto Robo's head. 

"SPIN STRIKE!" The whirling blade of death cut through Mother Brain like a knife through butter, and for a moment Crono wondered if they had won already. Then the three displays at the back came to life, each firing a green ray of energy that healed the virus. Magus cursed. 

"Damn! You two take out the displays. I get the feeling we'll need these... MAGIC WALL!" Four silver orbs rotated around Robo and bathed him with green light. "That'll protect you from any magic attacks!" 

"Cute, human." Mother Brain sneered. "But I can Reprogram humans as well!" A blast of brown Chaos dust shot from her mouth and slammed into Magus... and had no effect, thanks to Schala's Amulet. Robo shot off an Uzi Punch and Crono attacked with a Confuse. Mother Brain was not amused; calling the Displays to heal her again, she hit Robo with a Shadow Beam. Magus's spell did its job well, though, and the damage was lessened. A moment later, Crono had the same protection. Magus looked towards the back. 

"Look, you two, you'll have to take those out if we're going to win this! Do it!" 

"Very well!" Crono grinned as Robo Uzi Punched his foe again. "LUMINAIRE!" In the ultimate Lightning attack, a green globe of energy rushed out of him, blasting all the foes. The Displays were completely slagged. 

"Excellent!" Magus said as he cast Magic Wall on himself. "Now for the... huh?" Mother Brain's eyes had gone red, and a massive pillar of fire encased the entire room. "ARRRGH! Told you we'd need these!" 

"Die, humans and traitor!" Mother Brain shrieked insanely. "Perish in my fires of righteousness!!" 

"I think not." A metallic, but distinctly female voice rang through the air. "AREA BOMB!" 

"No!" Mother Brain gasped, launching a wave of blackness at the airborne Robo, who pierced right through it. When he was near, he opened up, and flame rushed from every part of him. After several seconds of this, he began spinning, releasing explosive energy, detonating all of the red power. Through the haze, Crono saw that Robo was not alone. Dancing with him were seven others, forming a perfect octagon around Mother Brain. One pink, and six blue. A blinding flash, and both they and Mother Brain were gone. Only Robo remained. 

"W... why... Pro... me... the... us..." Mother Brain's voice came raggedly from the air. Robo stepped forward. 

"...Go to hell." With a click, all functions in Geno Dome stopped. Lying on the ground were a pair of robotic arms, shining white. Robo picked them up and attached them, then turned around. 

"Come on. Our task here is done." 

****

JUNE 10, 0000 XD 

They had taken Atropos outside, then flew up to the Factory and retrieved the bodies of the R-Series. Afterwards, they had given all seven a decent burial and returned to the End of Time. Now, they relaxed on the couch, watching Spekkio's TV again. 

"Feh... nothing on. Ayla, gimme the remote." 

"No!" The cavewoman declared. "Ayla wanna Channel Skate!" 

"Channel SURF." Spekkio corrected wearily as the cavewoman flipped through the stations. When she stopped on Channel 666, his eyes grew wide and he practically flew across the room to change the channel. "NOOO! Don't EVER go to Channel 666 again!!" 

"What's wrong with Channel 666?" Lucca asked. The Master of War shuddered. 

"Complete evil... beyond even Lavos." 

"What could be THAT bad?!" Crono asked incredulously. Spekkio shuddered again. 

"Channel 666... is the Jerry Springer Channel." 


	17. Chapter 16: The Good, The Bad, And The U...

**__**

Chapter 16: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly 

****

JUNE 11, 0000 XD 

"Urr..." Crono raised his head from the bench. "That was nice." Getting up, he idly looked for the others. Marle was reading a book nearby, and Lucca was sitting on the floor, tinkering with something black and spherical. Robo and Frog were playing cards, and Magus was just... being Magus. Ayla was nowhere to be seen. "Wait a minute..." Crono growled. Neither was Gaspar. As soon as the teen had noticed this, an earthquake-like rumbling shook the End Of Time. "What the hell?!" Angrily, he ran into Spekkio's room. Both Ayla and Gaspar were in there with the Master of War, and all three looked rather shook up. As Crono entered, though, Spekkio broke into a wide grin. 

"Congratulations, cave girl! You did it! See, Gaspar, I TOLD you! You owe me a coke!" Gaspar grumbled and mumbled. 

"Excuse me." All of them turned to Crono, who was standing in the doorway. "Mind telling me just WHAT is going on here?" Spekkio summoned a beer as he sat down on the couch. 

"Simple, really. Me and Gaspar were just teaching cave girl how to summon temporary Gates." 

"WHOA!" Crono was impressed. Before he could go on, Spekkio raised a hand to stop him. 

"No, no. It's not what you think. Due to a large number of factors, including general outright quirkyness, the only thing she can bring through these gates are dinosaur butts." 

"..." Crono just looked at him for a moment without speaking. "...And this is supposed to actually help us HOW?" 

"That sounds like an insult to me." Gaspar noted. "Show him, Ayla." 

With a war whoop, Ayla concentrated hard, and a shimmering blue portal appeared above them. Out of the portal came what appeared to be a dinosaur tail the size of Epoch! It thrashed about wildly for about 10 seconds before disappearing. Crono slowly peeled himself off the floor, gasped "Point made." and headed back outside. 

*** 

"So, who's choosing the next quest?" Crono asked. Frog walked over and silently pressed a hand to the green stone. 

"The ghost of a lofty knight, slain by Magus in the Middle Ages, who haunts the present... Choras is the key..." Both Frog and Magus's eyes grew wide at this pronouncement. 

"It can't be... Cyrus...?" Frog croaked out. Magus shook his head slowly. 

"Well, I'm staying here this time, for obvious reasons." 

"I'll come." Marle said, rising to her feet. "Any advice from Spekkio?" 

"Yo." The Master Of War called. "Even when you think you're done, make sure you finish the job properly." A thunderous sneeze followed this pronouncement. "OKAY! Who brought a cat here?!" The other eight all looked blankly at each other. None of them remembered a cat. 

"Maybe it's just one of those random things that come floating through." Gaspar suggested. 

"Maybe." 

****

JUNE 11, 1000 AD 

"The Haunted Ruins north of Choras." Crono said as he landed. "This has to be it... right Frog?" The knight was silent. The three adventurers walked inside, and immediately heard a roar of rage. Turning left, they saw a green, armored phantom bearing down on them with a huge sword! 

"LUMINAIRE!" Crono called out as he cast his most powerful spell. The massive globe of green electric energy completely failed to damage the phantom in any way. Growling, it swung its sword, sending a circle of ethereal skulls into Crono. Frog attempted to attack, but the Masamune passed right through. 

"Mine blade hath no effect!" Frog gasped. The phantom froze, then slowly raised its head to look at him with an empty helmet. 

"G... l... e... n... n...?" 

"Cyrus?!" Frog choked. "Cyrus! It's me, Glenn!" 

"Glenn... GRRRR!" Furious, the ghost began chopping at thin air with its blade, as the three beat a hasty retreat out of the ruins. 

"I think it's too late to help him now..." Marle said softly. "We'll have to go back to 600 AD..." 

****

JUNE 11, 600 AD 

"Well, this is real nice." Crono commented. The first floor of the ruins simply consisted of two staircases, one going down and the other up. The upper floor was completely inaccessable because of a huge hole in the floor, and the basement was a hall with smaller armored ghosts called Sentries. After destroying them all, they had found another hole blocking the way too. Now they were in one of Choras's cafe/bars. 

"I can't believe this!" They heard from another table. Looking over, they saw a middle-aged man complaining loudly to the bartender. "Some stinkin' thief stole my tools! Now how am I supposed to get any work done?" 

"Hey!" Marle spoke up. "I just remembered. In the early 600s, Choras was home to an amazing carpenter. Let's see if we can find him in town." 

"Is that the place?" Crono asked after a while, pointing at a shop. Marle inspected the sign. 

"Yeah... Sabin The Carpenter." They went inside. Four young apprentices were puttering around, but there was no sign of the master carpenter. Frog selected one. 

"Pardon me, young sir. Dost thou know where we canst find thy master?" The young man blinked with the dull-eyed look of one who is not very intelligent. 

"Uh... the boss is at the cafe down the street... I think..." 

"That guy in there was the great carpenter?" Crono groaned. "Real good. Where do we get tools?" As he said this, the white orb began beeping, meaning that somebody on the other end wanted to talk. Crono picked it up. 

"Hey, guys." It was Lucca. "I've got an uncle in Choras who's a carpenter. Swap me for Marle for just a bit and we can go borrow his tools." 

****

JUNE 11, 1000 AD 

"This is your uncle's house, eh Lucca?" Crono asked. She nodded. 

"Yeah. Hey, auntie! It's me, Lucca!" The traditional family-reunion scene followed. After they were done, Lucca got down to business. "Auntie, where's Uncle Edgar?" Her aunt's face darkened at this. 

"Oh, he's at the bar again! This time when he comes home, I'm gonna teach him a lesson! POW, right in the kisser!" Lucca nodded; she knew which bar it was. They went over, and the scientest quickly spotted her uncle. 

"Uncle Edgar! Hey, it's Lucca!" 

"Lucca!" The man laughed. "How ya been, gal? You still blowing up your house?" 

"And how!" She grinned. "Right now, I need a favor." 

"Anything for my favorite niece!" He laughed. 

"Can we borrow your tools?" 

"My tools?" He frowned for a moment, then grinned again. "Sure! Just go ask your aunt for them. Hey, bartender! Another round!" 

****

JUNE 11, 600 AD 

"Mr. Sabin?" Crono asked the carpenter, who turned to look at him. 

"Yeah? What is it, kid?" 

"We'd like you to repair the northern ruins. We've got some tools you can borrow." The man's eyes grew wide, and he grinned suddenly. 

"Actually, I've been meaning to fix those up for a while now. I just didn't have the proper motivation. Kid, you've got yourself a deal!" Grabbing the tools, he ran down to his shop, where with kicks and curses he roused his apprentices. 

*** 

"Hey, buddy." The carpenter walked up to Crono. They had been working for a day. "We've been working on the second floor. Problem is, there's some monsters up there now. Can you clear them out while we work in the basement?" 

"Sure." Crono agreed. "We were getting bored anyway." The group headed up the stairs to the second floor. The room they found was large, with three doors at the other end. Each was blocked off by a large hole, though. Purple skeletons were lying around the room. As they approached one, it got to its feet and shrieked, and two legless yellow ones with scythes floated in. 

"Sheez! What's with all the dead things?" Crono complained as he sliced a yellow one in half. Frog grunted as he fought the purple. 

"I doth not know. I didst only visit the lower levels before." 

"Huh." Marle said. "We need to come up with names for these things." She blasted the other yellow one out of the sky with an Ice spell. "Howzabout we call the yellow ones Reapers?" 

"It shalt do." Frog agreed, finishing the purple one off. "And these shall be Defuncts." The next encounters was almost exactly the same, but the third had four foes; while they took one each, the remaining Defunct jumped into the air and drove its spear into Crono's back. When he stumbled, the Reaper he had been fighting ripped his chest open. 

"AYYEEEE!!! CRONO!" Marle shrieked. Frog stared, his face a mask of fury. 

"GLACIER!" The massive blue magic attack wiped out all the undead, and Marle ran to Crono's side. They both turned to Crono and shouted at the same time. 

"CURE 2!" Golden sparkled radiated out of each of them, burying the teen. Crono got to his feet, wincing. 

"Ow... I'd say your healing powers have reached a new level, you two. This is the first time I've seen two of the group learn the exact same spell. It'd be great as a double-technique. Let's go down and tell the carpenter we're done." 

"Killed 'em all? Great!" The carpenter grinned as he worked with a saw. "We're still working down here. We'll do the upstairs later." 

*** 

"Okay, we're going up." The carpenter announced several hours later. "You fellows can go in the basement now; it's safe." Wordlessly, Frog went down, followed by Crono and Marle. He led the way down the hall and into a room with a single gravestone at the back. 

__

Cyrus, the fool who challenged Magus, rests here 

"Cyrus!" Frog raised the Masamune straight up in salute. "I hath fulfilled my vow to thee!" As he spoke, the room grew covered in dim white fog. When the sentence was finished, the gravestone glowed with an unearthly brilliance, and a hazy, indistinct figure rose from it. An armored man, with a purple cape. Frog sank to his knees. 

"Cyrus!" The ghost knight smiled down at his friend. 

"Glenn... so, Magus is defeated?" 

"Yes, my lord." Frog choked. "Magus shalt not trouble this land again." 

"Evasion, Glenn." Cyrus said severely. "Magus still lives. And you've even joined forces!" Frog's face grew pale. 

"Cyrus... I..." He was cut off by a deep laugh from Cyrus. 

"Oh, come on, Glenn! Did you really think I'd obsess over something like that? You always were too serious. What you did satisfies the demands of honor, and now the both of you have a much larger task." Cyrus began fading. "Glenn... my time is up. I am glad to hear that this time is safe... now I can rest in peace, instead of remaining here." Frog got to his feet. 

"Cyrus..." 

"Don't grieve for me." Cyrus's voice game as he disappeared entirely. "Mine is a peaceful rest. Goodbye... Glenn..." 

"Cyrus..." Frog got to his feet, his eyes full. The noble knight did not respond, and Frog stood there, alone. And that was when the Masamune rose into the air of its own accord. "Eh?!" 

"Hee hee hee..." 

"That was it!" The voices came from the Masamune itself, which began glowing and spinning. In a flash of light, the two imps Masa and Mune stood there, dancing in place in the air above. 

"That was some show!" Masa commented. Mune nodded. 

"True. I guess true power comes from within!" They both turned to Frog. "Mucho metaphysical, man!" 

"Like, mind over matter!" 

"My... mind?" Frog blinked, very confused. Both imps groaned. 

"He just doesn't get it. He's so dense." 

"We'll just have to show him what he's done in a more... direct matter. Time to show this guy what we can REALLY do!" Masa cried happily. Mune grinned. 

"It's thrashing time!" They charged at each other, palms forward, and for a moment Crono thought they were going to fuse again. However, another blinding flash of light resulted in the sword Masamune... but it was different. Frog silently took it in both hands and raised it above his head, and white-blue flames ran down its entire length. Crono could feel the power of it without even touching the mighty blade. 

"Aah! Now, I canst see the might! Tis' the true essence of the Masamune!" Frog smiled, filled with a new fire. He turns back to the grave and saluted, as the inscription on it changed. 

Cyrus, a mighty knight slain by Magus rests peacefully here, his dreams fulfilled 

"Cyrus! I go now to challenge Lavos! Let the enemy tremble at mine coming!" 

*** 

"Hey, kids." The carpenter said as they met him at the door. "We're done for now. See you later." 

"Wait. Dost thou remember what sir Spekkio did say?" Frog reminded Crono. "We should check the upstairs." Boldy, he walked up. The room with the Decedents was fixed, with three doors. Frog peeked in the middle one. "Foebeasts. Ye two check the other whilst I deal with yon scum." He slipped in. Marle looked at Crono worriedly. 

"Shouldn't we go in after him?" 

"Nah." Crono grinned. "Didn't you see that sword now? He'll have no trouble. What's in those other two doors?" They looked in the one on the left, and Crono whistled sharply. "Damn... I thought we had seen the last of these!" It was a polished black box, with a silver crest. Marle touched the Pendant to it, but did not open it. The door on the right held a similar one. Finally, they opened the middle door just in time to see Frog finish off the final enemy. Broken purple bones and puddles of yellow goo were everywhere, but Frog seemed unharmed. He grinned. 

"This sword, it seemeth, be quite effective against the foul undead." A final black box lay at the end of the room. 

****

JUNE 13, 1000 AD 

"Right. The one on the left first." Crono opened it, and took out a katana formed of some unknown, pearly white substance. "Shiva Edge" was engraved on it. "It's even better than my Swallow..." Crono mused. "Who made this? Oh, well. It's good to have it. What's in the next?" 

"I'll open it." Marle said decisively. It contained a marvelous crossbow, forged of the same material and an unidentifiable wood. This had "Valkerie" on it. She smiled. 

"Wow... look at it. I don't doubt that this is the finest make I'll ever see..." 

"I hope this dost not contain a blade for me, for it wouldst be outclassed by the Masamune." Frog said as he opened the last. A moment later, he removed a suit of armor composed of the unknown white metal. Frog began putting it on without another word to either of them. He didn't need to ask; it was obvious he was the one to wear it. 

****

JUNE 13, 600 AD 

"So, we sell the underpowered sword and bow, but keep the armor?" Marle mused. 

"Right." Crono confirmed. "I'm wearing the Moon Armor... it may not be as strong as Frog's Nova stuff, but it's still very good." They got in the Epoch and began soaring over the planet. For some reason, none of them felt like punching the time-travel; they just flew through the sky for a while until they came near the Denadoro Mountains. It seemed they were higher than they remembered. 

"AAAA! BRAKE! BRAKE!" Desperately, Crono punched the button, and the Epoch skidded to a halt inches in front of the rocky peak. All three of its passengers wiped their brows before Crono began examining the control panel. "Hmm. How do you make this thing go in reverse...? Blast it..." He scanned the control panel hopelessly. "Damned thing. Do either of you know how?" Frog and Marle shrugged helplessly. Crono sighed. "Just great. Marle, open that little hatch in front of you and check if there's a manual or something. 

"I think Spekkio called this a glove compartment..." Marle mumbled as she rummaged through it. "Dunno why... there's no gloves in here. Lessee... disco ball... nine iron... live trout... neon headlight tints... BBQ Ribs air freshener... aha! Here we... uh-oh." 

"Uh-oh?" Crono asked. 

"Yes. Uh-oh." Marle replied as she hauled out what looked like an encyclopedia. "This is the Owner's Manual. Have fun looking through it. We're gonna be here a while, Frog..." 

Several hours passed. Frog was sweating, obviously uncomfortable. "Sir Crono, would ye raise the top? It be most hot." 

"Huh? Oh, sure. Here." Crono pressed a button and the bubble top disappeared, much to Frog's relief. The knight sat back and relaxed, much at ease. Until a rock hit him on the nose. 

"Ow! What foul villain hath done this?" He peered over the edge and fixed his eyes on the Free Lancer standing below, sniggering wildly. Crono glanced down as well. 

"I think that's the same one that was throwing rocks at us when we came here for the Masamune..." 

"OW!" Frog yelped again as the Lancer threw another rock. He was about to go down and take its head, but stopped himself. The next time it threw a rock, the knight caught it in his right hand. 

"Ha! Thou hast failed, Free Lancer!" He blinked as the rock began glowing, and he looked at it. It was golden and perfectly spherical. Marle frowned. 

"Frog, normally you would've immediately gone down and killed that guy. Are you feeling all right?" 

"I be a changed frog." He shrugged. "Sir Crono, be those repairs ready yet?" 

****

JUNE 14, 0000 XD 

"ACHOO!" Spekkio sneezed thunderously again. "I swear, there's a frickin' cat here!" 

"Blah, blah, blah." Lucca responded. 

"Well, there's two sidequests left to go." Crono said happily. "Who hasn't chosen one besides me... Marle chose the Rainbow Shell, Ayla chose the Sun Stone, Lucca chose the Sunken Desert, Robo chose Geno Dome, and Frog chose the Cyrus one. That leaves..." 

"Me." Magus said from his place in the corner. He silently walked over and rapped the sleeping Guru sharply on the head. "Wake up, sleeping ugly." 

"Eh... shut up, Janus. Unless you want me to start passing out your baby pictures." Gaspar retorted. The others in the room snickered. Magus just growled and tapped the purple stone. The Guru's face took on the blank look that always came when he recited one of these. "A fugitive in the Middle Ages, Ozzie, maintains an evil hideout..." 

"WHAT?!" Magus exploded. "That idiot's still kicking? I knew he wasn't dead, but you're telling me he's still preaching that 'kill the humans' crap? Grr... some people just don't know when to give up, do they!" Everybody was silent, shocked at the tirade from the taciturn dark mage. Magus just growled. "Right. Looks like I need to apply a little administrative discipline. Who's coming besides spike-top?" 

"I will come." Robo said. Spekkio sneezed again. 

"Argh. Your hint for today: When false treasure beckons, keen eyes will find the real prize." 

"Fine. Then let's go. I'd REALLY like a reunion with my old friends..." 

****

JUNE 15, 600 AD 

"Now that I think about it, Ozzie did have a small fortress west of my castle." Magus mused as the Epoch soared over the planet. "Here, let me have the controls. I'll see if I can find it." Within minutes, he had located the building. Around it, they could see many rude Mystic settlements. "Right. We'll land right outside the fort itself. Nothing to be gained by conversing with the rank and file." As they entered, a tinny bell rang. A moment later, a familiar fat, green form appeared. 

"Hello, and welcome! This the great Ozzie's place! Tour group, are ya? Or Imp Scouts? We are running low on thin mints..." He suddenly stopped talking as he realized who they were. "Guh... duh... that spiky-haired kid... the tinman... and... AH! You're the great Magus!" 

"Hey, Ozzie." Magus said, smiling. "You're doing pretty well for yourself. Nice place you got here; I like the decor. But enough beating around the bush... we need to... talk." Ozzie was slowly backing away, but then came forward again, face angry. 

"You're going around with humans?!" He shouted. "You traitor! After all that we did for you..." He disappeared. Magus frowned. 

"Sigh... fine, then. We'll do it the hard way. Come on." He led the way up the stairs into a large, square room with no furniture or decoration. Ozzie was there. 

"You're no king of ours! I spent all those years on you, and this is how you repay me? Ooh! I'll have you begging for mercy. Flea!" At his call, the attractive sorceress came in, frowning as she took in the scene. 

"Hmph... seems Ozzie was right. Humans. Who'd you bribe to get in? And if it isn't the great Magus! Traitors like you deserve a beating." She turned to her fat boss. "Ozzie, I'll handle this. You go notify Slash and get ready." 

"Right." Ozzie disappeared, and Flea focused her attention on the group again. 

"Get ready for a slapping good time... get it?" 

"Har, har." Crono frowned. "What makes you think you can beat us? We took you down before, and we're a lot stronger now." 

"Aha!" Flea laughed. "But so am I!" She blew a kiss, sending a fireball crashing into Crono's hair. Magus frowned. 

"Let's get this show on the road." 

*** 

"SLASH!" Ozzie yelled. "Get your butt out here! We have trouble!" 

"What is it, oh grand green globby one?" Slash asked sardonically. 

"Glenn's friends are here! And Magus is on their side! He's deserted us!" 

"Magus? Impossible." Slash snorted. "You've been sniffing glue again, Ozzie." 

"Believe him." Came from behind the swordsman. Slash turned to see Flea limp in. "They beat me up pretty badly. I'll need a Full Tonic..." 

"Damn!" Ozzie disappeared. Slash just groaned. 

*** 

"On to the next room." Crono said as they walked ahead. The next room was narrow, and on either side was a conveyer belt with large pits at both ends. 

"Hey, losers!" They looked up to see Ozzie standing above the opposite door. "Anyone who tries to stop me is looking for a VERY cruel death!" He turned one of his ever-present cranks, and the conveyer belts carried two glowing blue Mystic Groupies came out of the holes. "And away we go!" 

"Shit! That glow... don't let your guard down!" Magus commanded. All three drew their weapons... and watched as the enemy fell into the holes on the other end of the belts. Several sweatdrops and blinking were followed by a triple simultaneous facevault (quadruple if you count Ozzie). 

"Urr..." Ozzie groaned. "Ozzie's in... a jam!" He disappeared. The group walked on to a room identical to the one they had fought Flea in. Ozzie grinned. 

"Slash!" The spinning shape of the Mystic swordsman faded in. 

"You raaang?" He perused the group with a raised eyebrow. "Hmph. Looks like you were right, Ozzie. Sorry I doubted you." 

"Slash, don't let me down!" Ozzie called as he faded from view. Magus sighed. 

"Slash, give it up. The war with the humans is over. Don't listen to Ozzie." Slash growled. 

"You know, at first I didn't want to slice and dice ya... but now that I've seen your treachery firsthand, it sounds fun!" 

"Here we go, then..." Magus said shortly. 

*** 

"Flea! Are you ready?" Ozzie asked. The sorceress nodded, walking out. 

"I'm healed and I've got what I need. You?" 

"Yuuup. Slash is keeping them..." 

"Not anymore." Slash said, coming in. "Ozzie, you'll have to delay them while I find you-know what. I could use a Full Tonic too." 

"I'll take care of that." Flea decided. Ozzie shook his head. 

"Let's hope it's enough time. When you're both ready, go to the correct room." 

*** 

"...Okay, this is just sad." Crono commented. A single treasure chest stood in an alcove. The group walked past without comment, as Ozzie's voice rang out. 

"Aren't you gonna get the treasure? Probably full of goodies!" Robo made a sound like a snort. 

"Chances are 95% that it is a trap and that you're an idiot. 5% that you're just an idiot, no trap." 

"HEY!" As Ozzie yelled indignantly, an imp in janitor's clothes came in and saw the chest. 

"WOO-HOO!" He eagerly opened it... and it exploded. Magus glared upward, where he knew Ozzie was. 

"Give it up. You can't win." 

"Urr... Ozzie's stumped!" The familiar teleport sound followed. As they were about to pass into the next room, Magus stopped. 

"Hold it... remember what that shape-shifting fruit said? 'When false treasure beckons, keen eyes will find the real prize...'" 

"There!" Robo pointed at a wall. "There is a small chamber behind." 

"Ozzie always did love these things." Magus admitted as he felt the wall. "Illusion. I'll go in. ... YES!" When he emerged, he was dressed in a cape of pure shadows, dark as night. If you relaxed, you could see what looked like stars out of the corner of your eye, but never right where you were looking. That wasn't all, though; the dark mage was holding a different scythe, the blade carved of obsidian and the "pole" made of an unidentifiable hardwood. 

"My best equipment. Ozzie must have rescued it right before my castle went boom. Good to have it back." The three went in to the next room... and froze. This room was at least three times as big as any other, and all three of the Terrible Trio were waiting. 

"SHEEEEEIIIT." Magus cursed. Crono blinked. 

"What? We took them out easily enough before..." 

"You idiot." Magus growled. "Their solitary ability is second-rate, but as a group... this promises to be quite unpleasant." He raised his voice. "Ozzie! We didn't come here to fight! Call of the war against the humans and nobody will get hurt!" 

"Nobody will get hurt?!" Ozzie laughed. "You're the ones going down! OZZIE PANTS!" 

"FLEA VEST!" 

"SLASHER 2!" All three of the enemies grinned. Robo groaned. 

"Oh, no. Power levels are skyrocketing!" Ozzie laughed. 

"These unique items make us INVINCIBLE! Prepare to perish!" 

*** 

"LUMINAIRE!" Crono shouted, releasing the ultimate lightning attack. Ozzie just laughed. 

"Slash! Flea! Maneuver A!" 

"Gotcha!" Slash jumped into the air, and Flea tossed him a chain of black flames which were absorbed by his sword before he plunged it into Crono. "Mwahaha! Like my new sword, kid?" 

"Very nice, Slash." Magus called. "ICE 2!" The blue magic slammed into all three, leaving Ozzie open for Robo's Uzi Punch. The green one took it in stride, and called for another Flame Slash. 

"Hey, Slushie!" Slash turned, indignant, just in time to meet Crono's Confuse attack. The spinning sword attack cut deep into the Mystic. "You like MY new sword?" 

"Cute, kid." Slash groaned. "But not good enough! Your sword's good, but not as good as mine!" He sent off a ki wave that went through Crono and continued on to hit Robo. Ozzie laughed. 

"Okay, guys! Perfect time for Maneuver B!" The green leader jumped forward, and Slash bounced off his head, gaining twice as much height as he had with his previous leaps. Flea sent off the black flames again, and the sword smashed into Magus. 

"ARGH!! FIRE 2!" As the mage bent down under the attack, he launched a flaming counterblast, followed by Robo unloading an Area Bomb upon Flea. 

"Ow! You stupid junkpot!" She sent off a fireball at him even as Crono unloaded another Luminaire. 

"BAD IMPULSE!" The three repeated the previous superattack, this time for Robo, which was followed by a Lightning 2 from Magus. 

"Ozzie! We can't keep this up!" Slash and Flea shouted simultaneously. Ozzie bit his lip, then grinned wickedly. 

"In that case... let's stop playing around and show them the ultimate!" Slash and Flea laughed, then all three held out their hands. 

"DELTA STORM!!!!" A massive triangle of pure magical energy appeared, with one of the enemy at each point, and the three heroes caught in the middle. First, it was blue, delivering the chilling powers of ice. Next, it turned red, burning them with fire. Finally, a brilliant yellow shocked them all with brilliant electricity. When the light faded, Crono and Robo were both on their knees. Ozzie howled, doing a grotesque little dance of glee. 

"Hahahahaha! Mystics rule! I WIN!" 

"Not today, Ozzie." The chillingly calm voice came from Magus, who was standing in the exact center of the room. Slowly, he turned to look at Slash, Flea, and then Ozzie. "Your marvelous attack has just brought back the final spell I had forgotten. My ultimate." Ozzie grew pale as a... well... celery. 

"No..." he croaked. Magus smiled, a smile with no trace of humor. 

"Yes. DARK MATTER!!!" Above him, a massive rip appeared in the air, revealing a starry background. As a white sliver of pure light danced, pure, unchecked shadow energy from the depths of space poured out, flooding the room and crushing the Terrible Trio under its weight. Finally, it all detonated. 

Slash and Flea were both smashed into the unyielding stone walls, where they laid, smoking. Ozzie was slightly luckier; he was blown backwards through a door and up a staircase, disappearing from view. Magus frowned as Crono and Robo got to their feet, followed by Slash and Flea, albeit much more slowly. The Mystic King turned to his employees. 

"I'd advise you not to dispute anymore. If you surrender, I'll let you live." Slash and Flea glanced at each other, then sighed and both sank to their knees, Slash placing his blade flat on the ground. Magus nodded. 

"Good. Now, this stupid war with the humans is done. Understand?" They nodded. "Right. We're going to go settle Ozzie." With that, he walked up the stairs, followed by Crono and Robo, leaving the defeated Slash and Flea to ponder. 

*** 

"Urgh..." Ozzie groaned as the three appeared. "You don't give up, do you?" 

"Last chance, Ozzie." Magus said, fingering his scythe. "Surrender, or I will not be responsible for the consequences." 

"You want me to surrender to you?!" Ozzie yelped incredulously. "You lied to me! You lied when you said you wanted to destroy the humans! You used me!" 

"Gee, what a shame." Magus mocked. "Listen and listen good. There are much more important things than this silly little war, and it's time you stopped this. Are you going to come quietly?" 

"No." Ozzie said calmly. "I cannot. If I surrendered, then what would become of my beloved Mystics? Second-class citizens, scorned and hated again? NO! I MUST WIN!" The Crystal Shield appeared around him. Magus sighed. 

"Figures. There's no way through that, you two. NONE. And we can't just leave him here. Any ideas?" 

"Those switches." Robo pointed at three levers in the all behind Ozzie. "The last time we fought, something similar was his downfall." He hit one with his Rocket Punch. The floor rumbled, and Ozzie removed his shield, face contorted in a gross simulation of terror. 

"Oh, no! I'm falling down a hole! Save me!" With a clank, a hole appeared... beneath Crono, Robo and Magus. "Heh heh! Gotcha! Adios, amigos!" 

They landed in the center of the room where they had fought the Trio. Slash and Flea were still there. As they dusted themselves off, Flea spoke up. 

"Hey. Did one of you bring a cat?" The three heroes looked at each other blankly and shrugged. Robo was the first to talk. 

"None of us carry a cat. Did you see one?" 

"Yeah." Flea nodded. "Just wondering. I assume Ozzie got you with the trap." 

"That won't happen again." Magus growled as the three went back up. Ozzie laughed. 

"NEVER! You shall never defeat me!" The three pulled their weapons, and Ozzie prepared to bring up his shield... 

"Meow." All of them froze at the sound. "Meow." Behind the three, a small cat walked in. Crono's eyes grew wide as he recognized it. 

"Hey, that's my cat! How'd it get here?" None of the other spoke. They were all watching it silently, even Ozzie. The cat walked up to the switches, jumped and pressed one. Ozzie's eyes grew wide. 

"N... no! Not THAT switch! AAAAAAA!" He plummeted into the hole that appeared beneath his feet. Magus sighed. 

"The past is dead. It was all just a dream..." 

"You sound like Spike Spiegel." Crono commented as he grabbed his cat. "Let's go; I need to take this little guy home." 

"Is Ozzie dead?" Robo asked, peering into the hole. It was too deep to see past the darkness. Magus just shrugged. 

"I dunno if he can get his shield up while falling, and if he did, whether he had enough time. Doesn't matter anyway. The other Mystics have been watching this entire mess. I'll go back outside and I'll command them not to follow the Trio anymore, and to end the war. Then we can get going." 

*** 

Behind Ozzie's fortress, there was a large, fenced off area. It was filled with trash and other, more unmentionable things. In the pile, something stirred. 

"Ugh..." Ozzie groaned disgustedly as his crystal shield melted away. "Dammit, beaten again..." He looked up to see the Epoch soar away. "That must be them..." 

"Hey, Ozzie." The mystic chief looked over to see Slash and Flea standing with their backs against the wall of the fort. "Looks like we all got whupped, huh?" 

"Yah." Ozzie concurred. "I assume Magus has taken control of the Mystics again?" 

"You got it." Flea said. 

"Ahh, screw 'em all. I'm through with this leadership crap." He sniffed himself. "Literally. So, what do we do now?" 

"Get drunk?" Slash suggested. A wide grin appeared on Ozzie's face. 

"Sounds good to me!" The grand green glob washed himself off, and the three began walking away. Flea sighed. 

"Oh, well... maybe the Mystics will turn out okay. Maybe they'll build a village, and come to peace with the humans..." She stopped, and all three looked at each other for a moment. 

"NAAAAAAHHHH!" Laughing, the Terrible Trio walked off into the sunset, a scene which was only marred when a mug of V-8 mixed with turpentine hit Ozzie on the head. 

****

JUNE 15, 1000 AD 

"So, that's how the Mystics turn out..." Magus calmly noted. Below, Medina Village was greatly changed from the last time Crono has been there. All statues and chanting were gone. Instead, young imps played tag in the square, and a Hench grumbled good-naturedly as he trimmed flowers. Ozzie XIII was doing dishes, and an imp named Norain sat in the mayor's seat. Magus sardonically raised an eyebrow. 

"The flowers are a bit overdone, but all in all, it looks great. Is there anything else we need, or can we go back to the End Of Time now?" 

"Not yet..." Crono frowned. "I wanna see if Melchior's done with the Rainbow Shell yet." 

*** 

"Ah, Crono!" Melchior exclaimed happily as the teen walked in. "I've completed my work. Take a look at this!" Crono's breath caught as Melchior held up a beautiful dress that flashed every color in the rainbow prismatically. He immediately had a mental image of Marle wearing it. Melchior grinned. 

"This does more than just look pretty, friend! It's highly resistant to all types of magic, and light as a feather!" He handed it over. "But that's not all I have..." The Guru took out a long thin package and unwrapped it. This time Crono's eyes almost bugged out of their head. 

It was truly wondrous blade, a long and thin katana forged of the Rainbow Shell's substance and the Sun Stone's energy. The blade was sharp enough to split a hair, and like the dress, it flashed every color of the rainbow. Crono picked it up almost reverantly. 

"The Rainbow Sword... awesome." He turned to Melchior, intending to thank him, but the old Guru was already gone. He shrugged. 

"Well, let's get this cat back to my house, then get going." 

****

JUNE 16, 0000 XD 

"All right, everybody." Crono called as he entered the End of Time. "I declare a one-day rest break. Make good use of it, because you're not getting another. In twenty-four hours, we're finishing this once and for all." With that proclamation, he marched into Spekkio's room and immediately hijacked the Tv. All the others followed him, leaving Gaspar to snore. When they were all done, though, he began chuckling softly. 

"Heh heh heh... well, so it's come at last. The fate of the world shall soon be decided... and spiky isn't even out of high school yet. I can't wait to see his report card..." Laughing, Gaspar drifted back off to sleep. The Guru wanted to be well-rested for the ordeal ahead. He wasn't missing this for the world. 


	18. Chapter 17: Does The Term Overkill Mean ...

**__**

Chapter 17: Does The Word "Overkill" Mean Anything To You?! 

****

JUNE 18, 0000 XD 

"We're back." Lucca announced, climbing out of the Epoch with several green and brown hats. "Robo was right; they had plenty of 'em." The scientest and the robot had gone down to Fiona's Shrine to get some hats which would apparently protect the wearer from all hostile grey magic. They handed them out as Crono stood up, his face grim. 

"Good. Now, is everybody listening?" The six other group members all nodded, Gaspar raised his hand and Spekkio just said "Yo." Crono continued on. "We've been at this for a long time. Bringing the end of the Mystic War... stopping the Reptites... witnessing the Fall of Zeal... and a bunch of other stuff along the way. Now, it's time to finish our ultimate goal. Lavos. Just for the sake of ceremony... Gaspar?" The old guru nodded and brought out the wooden disk. He was still dressed in that dusty brown trenchcoat and bowler hat. What was new was the bubble pipe hanging from his mouth, and the fact that his hat was no longer covering his eyes. Gaspar had undergone a serious attitude modification lately, and it showed. Seven of the jewels were shining brightly; only the black one remained dark. Crono pointed at it, and Gaspar laid his hand on the dark stone. 

"One of you is close to somebody who needs help. Find that person... fast. The final battle approaches..." 

"Yo momma." Spekkio intoned, pointing at Magus with his strange arms. The shape-shifter had changed his form again, possibly for the last time; he was now a bright pink Nu. He was still as wacky as ever, and the ever-present mug of beer was unchangably clenched in his fist. 

"Yes. My mother... and the Black Omen." Magus said calmly. The dark mage had not weathered the second loss of his sister well, but remained the same outwardly; purple cape with sparse leather armor underneath, along with a simple tunic and leggings. His attitude remained similar as well; dry and sardonic, seemingly cold and uncaring. Most people would say Magus still wouldn't give a damn if all the others got mowed down by a freight truck someday. 

"Queen bad! Ayla kick butt!" The cavewoman was probably the least changed by the goings-on. Ayla was exactly the same as she had been at the start, both outwards and inwards. Her grin was exuberant and vicious at the same time. Crono just wished she would put something more on besides those furs. 

"It will not be that simple, Ayla. Lavos is also there, and we will have to battle him as well." Robo's words were gloomy, but his eyes were bright. He had finally laid the ghosts of his past to rest, and now he was eager to change his past by changing the others' future. His armor was shining gold, with the two arms from Geno Dome shining white. He was still wearing the Sun Shades; he had apparently taken a liking to them. 

"Worry not, sir Robo! Our cause is just, and we must inevitably prevail!" Frog was nearly as excited as Ayla. His meeting with Cyrus had made the knight much less gloomy, even up to the point where he was willing to speak almost amiably to Magus. Frog wore the Hero Medal proudly, and in his hands he held the mighty Masamune. 

"We're ready to go, mon capitan! Kicking butt is what we do best!" Lucca was unchanged and unchangable; the scientest was nearly as wacky as Spekkio sometimes, and that showed no sign of changing any time soon. Lucca would probably still be blowing up buildings and chugging alcoholic Poi when she was ninety. Her Wondershot was apparently itching for a trial run. Crono just hoped she would remember the weapon could punch through the enemies and hit things on the other side. 

"Crono, we're with you all the way! Just lead us and we'll follow!" Marle smiled. Her mind was much more at ease now that she had been reconciled with her father, and now the only task left for her was Lavos. She definately had plans for afterwards, though, Crono realized nervously. He wondered if Magus and Robo would distract her while he got a running start. Marle looked positively stunning in the Prism Dress, but the Valkerie crossbow from the Ancient Ruins was all business. 

"Okay, settle down, people." Crono began oration again. "You're correct. We're going to the Black Omen, and we're gonna blow that thing out of the sky, fix Queen Zeal's brain, and get that goddamn bug OFF OF OUR PLANET. And this time, nobody's gonna die." He looked calmly at Gaspar. "You've been asking who's coming. Well, I've decided. Everybody." The teen raised his hand to ward off interruptions. "Three of us will take the Epoch down, and I'll drop the other two off, then come back for two more. Then I'll drop them off, come back and get the last two, and we'll go in. Gaspar, I know this is against the rules. And I don't really care. There are seven of us and one of you, so I advise you not try and stop us." 

"..." Gaspar was silent for a moment before throwing his hands up into the air. "Fine. See if I care. Just don't come whining to me if They decide to incinerate you because of it." Crono nodded and continued. 

"We've been through a lot together. And I couldn't ask for a better te..." 

"Oh, get ON with it." Magus yelled from the back. "Yeah, yeah, we're all lovey-dovey. So what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!" 

"AMEN!" Came from everybody save Frog. Crono smiled a bit sheepishly. 

"Okay, enough with the dusty speech. Onward!" 

"Not yet." Spekkio smiled. "Before you do, I have one last gift for you all. IPSO FACTO MEENIE MO MAGICO!!!" Rainbow light shone from his hands and formed into beams which struck everybody except Crono and Gaspar. They all glowed with the same light for a moment, then it all faded. Spekkio's professor's cap materialized again. 

"Okay, we'll go in order. Blondie, your present goes on your natural healing power. If somebody gets knocked unconscious, you'll be able to bring 'em back fully healed, as if they'd never been hit. Geeky, I've seen you admiring spike-top's Luminaire. Well, now you can do something similar. The ultimate Fire Magic, Flare. Ribbit, you've actually gained a bit of Mystic-type. To be specific, summoning. You can summon a huge frog spirit to help you attack. The more you've been beat up, the more pissed it will be. Tinman, I've given you a final magic upgrade; a Level-X Lightning technique called Shock. It's not as good as Luminaire, but it comes damned close. Cave girl, you've got a new physical technique called Triple Kick. The term kick-ass will never be used so literally again. And finally, Magic Man, yours is the most unique. Remember how when you were little, Dalton had his own pocket dimension? Well, I've given you your own one. It's only starting, though, so for now it's only one-way. You can send them in, but you can't bring them out yet. And it won't work on anything TOO strong, either." The shape-shifter turned to Crono. "Sorry, kid, but you've already taken yourself to the limit. There's nothing more I can do for you. Your present... is this." The Nu tossed Crono a bag, which he caught and opened. Shining gold bottles peeked out. 

"Megalixers... how many are there?" 

"Enough." Was his answer. "Now get going!" Crono nodded. The seven charged to the back and departed, two at a time. When they were all gone, Spekkio walked over to Gaspar. 

"They're not gonna be happy. This puts a damper on our surprise plan, huh? I don't think They'll be in the mood to accept." 

"Give it a shot anyway." Gaspar responded. Spekkio groaned. 

"Me? Why me? Why not you?" 

"Because YOU're Their kin. I'm just a flunky." 

"Fine, fine." Spekkio sighed and walked into his room, closing the door behind him. Gaspar waited outside for a few minutes before the shape-shifter reemerged. 

"It took a lot of fast-talking, but They finally agreed." Spekkio announced. "Where's the first?" 

"2300 AD." Spekkio responded as he threw off his trenchcoat. Underneath it, the red Guru wore a mystical-looking red robe. He concentrated and his bowler turned into a similar-looking hat. He then removed his bubble pipe and picked up a long staff of a mystical crimson stone. "He's currently in a sewer, chewing on some stale cheese. He's scaring the rats. Let's go!" 

****

JUNE 18, 12000 BC 

"So, there it is..." Crono said softly. The Black Omen. A massive floating fortress, spiked and pitted. It was a shining black laid with electrical red and blue lines and so many defense cannons that a head-on attack would be suicide. The only way in was a small dock at the very bottom. Crono pulled up and dropped off Marle and Ayla, then took off back to the End of Time. The girls looked around. The dock led up to a door, with six metal spheres over it. 

"Must be some sort of security system..." Marle guessed. 

"Correct." Crono called as Lucca and Frog got out of the Epoch. "They're from 2300 AD; seems Zeal's a plagiarist. Laser Guards. If you're gonna attack, do it fast before they self-destruct." When he returned with Robo and Magus, the girls and the knight had destroyed all of them. He smiled and exited the machine with the others, then turned. 

"Epoch, you've been as much a part of this as any of us. I'm afraid you can't come in with us. Thank you for your help. Now, go back to Gaspar and Spekkio; I don't want you getting hurt or worse when this place comes down." Epoch silently closed its bubble dome and moved away from the dock, then time-warped, leaving a glowing trail of motes. Crono sighed, then led the way inside. 

They were not unexpected. 

"So, you've come here..." Queen Zeal purred. "We've been expecting you. You, who think you can challenge Lavos! You are pathetic. Lavos's power is the ultimate, and you shall all be consumed in it! This is the end for all of you. You should just give up and offer yourselves as sacrifices to the Great Lavos! Ka ha ha ha ha! Oh, but where are my manners? I forgot to introduce our bouncer!" Before any could make a move to stop her, Zeal faded out, laughing. In her place formed a monstrosity; a lifeform that could never have come from this planet. The upper body was mostly a chin pouch with a pair of baleful eyes above it and a long, spindly arm on each side. Below the pouch it tapered to an impossibly thin waist which grew into the top of a second head, which looked like the face of a whale. Shrieking a war cry, the Mega Mutant attacked. 

_OBSTACLE!_ The chin pouch opened, revealing a tubular mouth. The word was not spoken, for no comprehensible speech could ever have come from that twisted mouth, but was mentally spoken instead. From the pouch came a huge black orb that encompassed all of the group, then filled with blue electricity, overloading their minds and driving them insane. 

Or at least, that was the plan. The Vigil Hats and Schala's Amulet protected the group, and when the Mega Mutant dropped the attack, they were waiting. 

"ICE TACKLE!" Marle fired off a stream of blue energy at Robo, who absorbed it and lunged forward smashing the lower head. 

"LINE BOMB!" Lucca tossed a stream of her new bombs into the air, and Frog caught them on his blade and dashed forward in a straight line through the Mutant, leaving a trail of explosions. The Mega Mutant was not amused; it poked its tubular mouth out again and spewed a cloud of neon pink gas. The adventurers took the attack in stride and charged forward again. 

"DRILL KICK!" Crono began twirling his sword and Ayla jumped on, and was launched upward at high speed before landing feet-first into its upper head. 

"DARK MATTER!" Magus's dark blast smashed both parts equally, slamming them backward as they writhed under its burning energy. The Mutant still wasn't done; exhibiting startling resilience, it dashed forward, and the lower head extanded three blunt protrusions, smashing into Crono, Frog and Magus. 

"DOUBLE BOMB!" Robo jumped onto the lower head as Lucca tossed one of her new superbombs at him. He grabbed it and jammed it into an arm slot next to Atropos's Ribbon, and then released his Area Bomb combined with it in an explosion that temporarily blinded them all. The smoke cleared, and the Mega Mutant stood there, a flaming wreck. For a moment, Crono thought it was still alive. Then it toppled backwards, over the edge of the walkway they were on. 

"So much for the bouncer." Crono commented snidely. He looked ahead. "It divides into three paths. Okay, we split up. Three groups. I'll lead one, Frog will be in a second and Magus a third. The rest of you, choose who you want to go with." 

"I'm with Crono." Marle said instantly. "But first... Aura Wave!" She threw a bit of healing magic at Robo, who released a rainbow circle, healing them all. Ayla surveyed Frog and Magus, then also walked to join the teen. Robo silently walked to Magus, and Lucca shrugged, then joined Frog. Crono smiled. 

"See you at the top!" With that, his group charged down the middle path, stopping only to obliterate a pair of large yellow masks. Frog and Lucca went left, and Magus and Robo went right. 

*** 

"Huh... what are those?" Crono wondered, pointing at a dark blue metal lump attached to the ground with a single eye/gun. Frog, Lucca or Robo would have noticed it was related to the Turrets from the Blackbird, but none of the three in this group had been there. One of the machines' eye fell on them and immediately began flashing red. Crono swore. 

"Sheeeit. Some kind of security system, I'll bet. Ayla, let's take 'em out!" Ayla smashed the one that had raised the alarm, and Crono took out the other. Onward, across the metal walkway that stretched over a pit of foreign machinery. A pair of hideous yellow demons swooped down. 

"Great. Zeal sent some goons after us." They seemed to be an amalgamation of a yellow bat and a human press gang. One of them swooped down and picked up Marle in its claws. 

"Aaah! Help!" 

"LUMINAIRE!" The massive lightning attack failed to hurt the Goons; in fact, they actually seemed to enjoy it! Crono groaned. 

"Gawdammit! They eat lightning magic! Ayla, now might be a good time to test that trick Spekkio gave you!" Ayla nodded, shook in place for a moment, then took off into the air so fast that Crono could barely follow her. 

"TRIPLE KICK!" Her first kick made the Goon drop Marle. The second kick sent it crashing into its partner. And the final kick smashed them both downward into the dark chasm below. Crono moved to catch the princess. 

"Oof... I'm okay, Crono. I'll just Cure myself." One healing spell later, they continued on. Another one of the blue domes was waiting for them at the end of a walkway; as soon as it saw them, two huge robots dropped from above. 

"Those don't look friendly. Marle, take the dome!" The princess nodded and began firing at it while the leader and the cavewoman moved in to intercept the big 'bots. The dome, sensing it was under attack, began firing yellow lasers. 

"Not good enough." Marle growled, nailing it in the eye. She turned around just in time to see Crono's enemy flip its top open and release a pink beam of Shadow energy. He ignored it and jammed his sword into the exposed interior. Ayla finished hers off a second later, and they continued on through a door. 

"Huh. Looks like Zeal's been ripping off some different time periods." Crono noted. In front of them was a blue, metallic copy of the Mutants from 2300 AD, dancing wildly. Another was just around the corner. As the three walked in, the Metal Mutants squealed. 

"Shining Bit!" Blue orbs came out of their mouths and encircled the girls, then exploded in electricity. Crono growled and went after one with his Confuse technique, while Marle and Ayla quickly recovered and squashed the other with a Cube Toss. When both were dead, the heroes journeyed on, across another winding walkway. At the end, two more Metal Mutants were guarding the door, with two pink imps similar to the Scouts of the Ocean Palace fluttering overhead. Crono sighed. 

"More of these. Lovely." One of the Metal Mutants threw out a red tube which attached to the teen's head and began sucking out his life. Marle quickly analyzed the situation, then shot one of the imps out of the sky. It fell on the Metal Mutant and knocked the tube loose. Crono was not happy. 

Sixty seconds later, the group walked into the next room, which was small and only had one feature; a pillar of orange light. 

"Looks like a teleporter." Marle observed. Ayla jumped in and disappeared, and a moment later, Crono and Marle followed. They emerged in a room exactly like the first, and walked out onto an elevator. Crono pressed the button and they began going down. 

"So... looks like we're not gonna be attacked." Crono noted after several minutes. Ayla yawned. 

"Boring!" 

"I don't mind it myself." Marle said. Several moments of silence. "Hey, Crono..." 

"Yeah?" 

"What are we going to do after this is all over?" The princess wondered. Crono smiled. 

"Well, you'll go back to being a princess..." 

"Yuck." 

"No, check that. You'll be a princess who can kick the ass of almost everybody in the kingdom." He amended. Marle's eyes narrowed. 

"Hmm... that has some interesting possiblities..." She looked at Crono. "And you?" 

"Beats me." He smiled. "That's one of the drawbacks of an ordinary background. You don't have much to do when everything's done." 

"Actually, I can think of something." She said a bit shyly. "My dad... isn't gonna live forever. I'll be queen one day... and I'll need a king." Crono's breath caught in his throat. 

"Marle, are you..." His question was cut off by the crash as the elevator arrived, and Marle dashed ahead with Ayla. Crono groaned and slammed his head against the wall before following. 

"Women!" 

*** 

"Hmph." Lucca frowned. The hallway was long and straight. The only features were strange, vaguely humanoid robotic shapes embedded in the walls across from each other at strategic points. "Those things are gonna fight us. Ready, Frog?" 

"You have to ask, lass?" He asked cheekily. "Tallyho!" The knight charged forward and ripped one of the Panels out of the wall with a single slash. Lucca groaned, then fired, knocking out its opposite before it could respond. The next pair was ready for them, though; as Frog approached, they fired out a salvo of missiles, blowing him back. 

"Lass, this might be a good time for a double maneuver." The knight observed. Lucca grinned. 

"Frog, I couldn't have said it better myself! Red Pin sound good?" 

"Indeed!" The knight jumped into the air, caught Lucca's flame and smashed his Masamune into a Panel. Alone, the other was taken care of quickly, and they moved on. 

"This looks like a teleporter." Lucca observed as they saw the orange pillar of light. It took them to an elevator like the one on the Ocean Palace, and they began descending. 

"Frog, you've changed a lot recently." Lucca began a conversation. 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah. Before now, you were all gloom and doom, but recently it's like you're full of energy. I think I even caught you almost being nice to Magus once!" 

"A most acute observation, lass." Frog's brow furrowed. "I believe it be a result of my communion with Cyrus. It seemeth that a great weight hath been lifted from mine shoulders now that I doth know mine deceased friend be aiding me even from heaven." 

"Aich... this is why we don't talk like you. I almost lost track of what you were saying halfway through that sentance." He even had the grace to laugh as she returned to thinking. "You're right. I've seen similar changed in Marle and Robo recently too." 

"Thy own change hath been noted as well, lass." Frog observed. She inclined her head, acknowledging it. 

"Crono and Ayla were fine already, which leaves Magus. Can't really blame him, though; he's been through the most of all of us, and it's still not over. For him, the fight with Lavos is personal." 

"It be almost over, though." Frog said. "Lavos shall be slain." Further conversation was ended when the elevator stopped, signifying the ride was at an end. 

"Huh, boy." Lucca groaned as they entered the next room. A monster resembling a blue Son of Sun had materialized with two smaller versions. It immediately blasted them with a purple wave, and Lucca cursed. 

"That'll lock our magic for ten minutes!" Angrily, Frog cleaved the big orb in half, and with startled yelps, the small ones fled. Lucca looked left. 

"A dead end. Right." They went down, going around several turns, and eventually found a platform-like area. As they prepared to enter, Lucca bent over and picked up a Megalixer. "Sweet!" 

"Lass, up here!" Lucca looked up and saw Frog fending off a large robot and two flying pink imps. She shot the imps out of the sky as the knight dealt with the robot. Lucca walked onto the platform, and her eyes caught a glint in a dark alcove to the left. 

"WHOA!" Her eyes widened. Thirty thousand Gold was just lying there. "Sheez, if this is dropped change I'd give an arm to get into the vault!" 

*** 

"Yeah, get out of here!" Magus yelled, throwing the two halves of the Boss Orb after the fleeing small blue blobs. "And if you see any more big ones, tell 'em if they lock MY magic again I'll hang their guts on a fence!" 

"I believe I see another set up ahead." Robo observed. Magus growled. 

"Well, we'll just see about that! BLACK HOLE!" Squealing, all three were dragged into an orb of total darkness and disappeared. Magus actually laughed. 

"Ha ha ha! I LOVE this thing! That shape-shifting fruit'll be getting a big christmas card from me this year..." They continued on, killing another group as they went. Magus sighed as they entered the room ahead. 

"Gar. A teleporter. Let's get it over with..." They went through, and emerged. Robo blinked. 

"An elevator. This seems redundant. Why not just make the teleporter lead to the next destination?" 

"My mom never was too strong on reason." Magus admitted as they activated it. "Not even before she met Lavos." 

"At least you had a mother." Robo frowned. "I never did, and I never met my father." 

"Yeah, well neither did I." Magus retorted. "Dad fell off the island while mom was preggers with me. I think her grief was what drew her to Lavos..." The mage shook his head wryly. "We all have some screwed up lives, don't we? You had your family become Virus-Slaves, Lucca's mom got her legs exploded, Marle had that moron Yakra XIII screwing up her relationship with her dad, and the frog... well, that was kinda my fault. I was in a bad mood that day because the imps in dry-cleaning had mangled my cape." Robo nodded. 

"True. But for most of us, that has been changed." 

"Luckies." Magus growled. "You and me are still screwed, though. Your family aren't virused, but they're dead, and that's not much improvement. And I'm still minus a sister and my mom's wacko." 

"You have us." Robo countered. Magus's head lowered. After a moment, Robo realized he was laughing. 

"Are you kidding? The only reason I'm allowed in is because of my magic. If it weren't for that, they'd dump me back in 12000 without a ride." 

"You underestimate our opinions of you." Robo said calmly. 

"Yeah, right. I can't blame 'em; I'm not the friendliest character." 

"I know that Lucca and Crono like you, and I do too. I'm fairly certain that Marle and Ayla do as well. As for Frog... he tolerates you since his meeting with Cyrus." Silence. The mage said nothing, and Robo pressed on. "And you? How would you feel if all of us were to die?" 

"..." Magus sighed. "Look, I don't grieve. It's just not my style. But I'll say this: If it wasn't because of natural causes, I'd hunt down whoever was responsible and make sure their death took at least a week of suffering." 

"So, you consider yourself one of us after all." Robo pressed. Magus shrugged indifferently. 

"If that's what it comes down to, yeah, I guess so. The elevator's stopped, by the way." Magus walked out ahead, signifying that he was done with the conversation, and after a moment, Robo followed. 

"Stop!" Robo suddenly yelled, and Magus halted in his tracks. "There are infra-red beams coming from the eyes of those mechanical wall panels in the center pillar." 

"Aah... she's getting smarter." Magus conceded. With Robo's help, he moved around the pillar without touching them and the two went on. Another Boss Orb and its sidekicks were waiting, and were easily disposed of. Around they went, and they found two large robots waiting for them, with two blue domes. Robo blinked. 

"This should be... fun." 

"You're learning, rustbucket." Magus called as he moved into position. 

*** 

"Funny... I thought there weren't any friendly faces around here." Crono said. The first Nu smiled. 

"Hey, Zeal is one thing, but business is business." It put the money that the team had given it in its wallet. A moment later, the other Nu walked out of the back. 

"Everything's packed. Ready to leave?" 

"Yes." The first Nu said. "Good luck fighting the queen, and thanks for telling us. We don't particularly enjoy the prospect of being on this thing when it blows." 

"I can relate to that." Marle smiled. The Nus disappeared, and the group walked on. 

"Waa! Fire Eye come back!" Ayla yelped as their next fight materialized. Marle sighed. 

"No, Ayla, it's not Son Of Sun. It looks like it, but it's not." The Boss Orb blinked, releasing waves of fire that washed over the three. The group ignored it and massacred the enemy before going on. A pair of flying imps were waiting, and they summoned two big yellow Goons. 

"Luminaire don't work..." Crono remembered. "Looks like we're using physical attacks. Let's try Falcon Hit!" The old double tech worked wonders. The two Boss Orbs and four Sidekicks waiting next were no trouble either, and the group walked into the next room. Crono sighed. 

"Another Teleporter. Dammit." The green pillar of light sucked them up, flew them through the Omen and deposited them... in front of another orange teleporter. Grumbling about incompetent architects, Crono led the way in. THIS teleporter led them to an elevator, causing Crono to begin banging his head against the wall. Up the elevator they went. After a couple moments, four forms began phasing in. "We've got company!" It was a gang of two-headed metal snakes. Ayla scoffed. 

"TRIPLE KICK!" She smashed three of the snakes over the edge. The fourth yelped, and its two heads looked at each other for a moment before jumping off after them. Crono smiled. 

"That was easy..." 

"Don't speak too soon! INCOMING!" Marle yelled, and all three jumped aside as two huge blue robots jumped down. Crono sighed. 

"More trouble. Well, let's get on with it." Marle nodded, then turned to a robot and slapped her hip mockingly. 

"Come on, fatso!" 

*** 

"What be those?" Frog asked quizzically. Lucca looked at what he was staring at, and immediately began spouting curses that made even the battle-hardened Frog go pale. "Lady Lucca, PLEASE!" 

"I am gonna PERSONALLY murder that bitch for this!" 

"Hath she affronted thee in some way, lady?" 

"I'll say." Lucca growled. "She's ripping off my design!" Standing in front of them were two blue robots that looked almost exactly like the "Gato" battle trainer Lucca had designed for the Millenial Fair. As one saw her, it raised its microphone. 

"Deh, deh, dee deh deh duh DEH!" It sang. The song apparently caused Lucca physical discomfort; she clutched her head and screamed. 

"FLARE!" Red energy coalesced into the scientest until she was actually glowing with it, then exploded, releasing three waves of furious red magic that completely slagged the ripoffs. Frog blinked. 

"I suppose it be true what they about a teenager scorned..." Shaking his head, he walked on, and after a moment Lucca followed. 

"Aya..." She moaned. There were three spaces between a set of pillars, and a single giant yellow mask was moving back and forth between them at high speed, blocking one space at a time. Lucca thought for a moment, then smiled and pulled out a strange machine. 

"I had forgotten about my Hypno Wave!" The machine released waves of green light which washed over the mask, and it dropped off to sleep, allowing the two to pass by. Frog groaned when he saw the next obstacle; a constant stream of metallic, two-headed snakes rushed by. Lucca stepped in and the stream stopped; four of them remained, though, and they didn't look friendly. Frog chopped one in two, then stopped and watched, wide-eyed, as a second swallowed a third whole! 

"They're canniballistic." Lucca observed as the fourth then ate the second. The single remaining snake then began to inch towards Frog, obviously intending the same thing. "Hell no!" Lucca yelled, piercing both heads with the Wondershot. The two went on, through a green teleporter, and down past several statues, where they found a pair of flying imps. Shrieking, the imps fired a pair of yellow beams from their single eyes, which merged into a huge yellow lizard-like beast. 

"Looks like Heckran... Zeal just can't make up her own monsters, can she? I'll shoot down the bugs. You take the beast!" Frog nodded and charged forward, attacking with the Masamune. The beast was a worthy opponent, though; its tough scales and many layers of fat served as an excellent defense, and it was surprisingly quick with its huge claws. Frog eventually brought it down, but not without suffering several wounds himself. Lucca had dealt with the imps, and the duo went on. Lucca sighed as the orange teleporter took them to an elevator. 

"Whoever designed this place deserves to be shot." 

*** 

"I don't advise swimming." Magus commented as Robo peered into the glowing white liquid that seperated two pieces of land. 

"I wasn't considering it." The robot shot back dryly. They walked around until they came to the end of the moat, where something waited for them. 

"Ugly bugger." Magus growled as the huge yellow lizard lunged for him. "Would you mind?" 

"Uzi Punch!" The fist of fury knocked the foe into the glowing white goo. It screamed, repeatedly trying to get back up, but it failed, and on its last attempt, the flesh melted from it like wax, leaving only a skeleton. Robo winced. 

"Painful." 

"Truly." Magus agreed nonchalantly. "Let's hope it doesn't come breaking through a wall or something." 

"The skeleton?" Robo scoffed as they walked on. "Are you joking?" 

"Stranger things have happened." Magus sighed, walking in to the next room and through the green teleporter. "What's next? A maze?" They walked out. A maze over the white acid. "Me and my biiiiig mouth..." 

"I can calculate the best path through." Robo beeped. Magus looked at him as they walked. 

"Sometimes you can be useful, tinman... what ungodly thing is THAT?" He was referring to the pair of large, fat yellow monstrosities lurking on a large platform. Their faces were horribly bizarre. Robo beeped alarmingly. 

"Error! Error! Biological makeup is completely foreign! They cannot be of this earth!" 

"So, Lavos brought a couple goonies from another planet..." Magus growled as two twisted green blobs appeared as well. "Sounds like a good place to start my collection. BLACK HOLE!" One of each species vanished in, but the others remained. Robo jumped over and punched the Alien square in the face, but it survived and spat a black sphere which expanded into a rainbow-colored mist. Robo fell, deactivated. 

"Damn you!" Magus swept its head off with his scythe, then turned to the remaining Blob, which hadn't moved an inch. He stared at it for a while, watching as it gazed blankly at thin air. Finally, he just ignored it and revived Robo before walking on. The next interruption came in the form of a Boss Orb with four sidekicks. 

"Allow me." Robo said calmly. "SHOCK!" Before the Boss Orb could release its Lock All, Robo created a rotating pyramid of lightning which filled the room with purple-white electricity. All the monsters were instantly fried. 

"Very nice." Magus called as they walked on. 

"Thanks." Several minutes passed. "The exit is ahead!" Sure enough, it was there... and so were two more Aliens. 

"I hate this place." Magus growled. 

*** 

"That was a fun little ride." Crono commented as the group walked on. "I didn't care much for the service, though. OW!" The teen yelped as his face made contact with something metallic and solid. Looking up, he discovered it was one of the two big robots standing in front of them. "Uh... sorry?" 

"TIME STOP!" Was the robot's response; blue vectors burst out from it. No effect. 

"Vigil Hats save the day again!" Marle called as she and Ayla crushed one with a Cube Toss. Crono smiled and killed the other. The next obstacle was in the form of two little bats flapping back and forth at high speed across the path. Crono decided to try the friendly approach; after all, it had worked on the Nus. 

"Um... hi, guys. Could you move or something?" The bats did not respond. Ayla growled and charged forward, knocking the bats aside. Squeaking angrily, the tiny winged rodents flashed white, then grew into huge Goons. "Damn Zeal anyway!" The teen cursed as he moved in. Ayla was grappling with the other, and Marle was sniping. The Goon he faced grinned widely. 

"Hear ye, hear ye..." As it growled, sonic blades flew from its mouth and smashed into Crono. 

"Ow! Ow! Buddy, you need to get some speech therapy! CONFUSE!" The complicated sword technique left the Goon without its wings, and with a despairing wail it plummeted over the edge into the void. Ayla had already taken care of hers. 

"Now what?" Marle groaned some minutes later when they had come across a ring of white mist on the floor. As they advanced, the ring exploded into a beam of yellow light, then solidified into two large yellow reptilian creatures. 

"Whoa! Heckran's great-great-granddaddy! Marle, ICE SWORD 2!" As Crono bantered, he and Marle iced one and cut it to shreds. Ayla ran to the other, picked it up and flung it over the edge. "Or, you could just do that..." Crono sweatdropped. 

"There's the door." Marle called. The wall up ahead was intricately designed. As they approached, the door slid open futuristically. It led to a long, narrow walkway with no disruptions. The room after that was empty. As they started across, though, something appeared in the center. 

"A Gate!" Crono gasped. "Here?!" Suddenly, the Gate opened, and something crawled out. 

"A Lavos Spawn!" Marle shrieked. 

"One of those? Well, judging from your stories of Death Peak, it shouldn't be TOO much trouble..." Marle's mind was racing. 

"No, Crono! Lavos Spawn Gui here is much stronger than the others!" 

"I've heard that before. Let's roll." 

*** 

"Huh, boy..." Magus sighed. "I wonder what's up on that raised platform?" Eight square symbols were drawn on the floor of the raised platform, and as the two approached, they began flashing, one at a time. Robo groaned. 

"Oh, no... immense magical presence detected..." In the center, a black portal opened, and out strode a monstrosity similar to the one that had greeted them in the Omen. 

"Another Mutant?" Magus yelled, dashing in. "Cripes..." He swung his scythe, delivering a blow that would've felled a Gigasaur... and it barely did any damage. "Huh... looks like it's resistant to physical attacks. On the bottom at least... try the top, tinman!" Robo nodded and delivered an Uzi Punch to the top half, which did not have much effect either. The Mutant poked its mouth out of the chin pouch and blew a cloud of pink gas at Robo. 

"DARK MATTER!" Magus's blast smashed the Mutant backwards. Robo smiled. 

"Magic has a far more significant effect, it seems. SHOCK!" It was no Luminaire, but it did the trick, the Mutant squealed in pain and spewed a storm of green mist. The two heroes ignored it and continued pummeling their foe. 

"Dark Mist!" 

"Area Bomb!" 

Finally driven beyond endurance, the Mutant seperated at the waist, then shattered into a million pieces. 

"Pathetic." Magus growled. "Let's go." 

*** 

"More of those Panels!" Lucca groaned. "We don't have time for this! I'll give 'em a taste of my Mega Bomb!" The scientest threw out a black metal sphere, and it caused a truly impressive explosion which enveloped all four Panels. Frog smiled. 

"Very nice, lady Lucca. Onward!" As they ran past, though, the two panels ahead both emitted a beam of golden light. The beams merged, and out walked... 

"Another Mutant!" Lucca yelled. Frog groaned. 

"Blast! Come, then! Tallyho!" The knight dashed forward and slashed the lower portion straight across. 

"LIFE SHAVER!" Shrieking, it seperated from the upper half, slid over to Frog, then jumped on him four times before causing an explosion and returning. Frog almost collapsed. 

"Blast... I be a step from unconsciounsess... Cure 2..." He created a shower of gold sparkles over himself that rejuvenated him. Lucca nodded. 

"Right. Aim for the top. FIRE!" Her blazing attack hit the upper half head-on. Angrily, it spat a cluster of energy balls at her. "Ha! Didn't like that, eh? Try some napalm!" The bomb damaged the Mutant further, and it stumbled backwards. The upper body opened its chin pouch to produce a long red tube, which it attached to the lower half. A few moments later, the upper half was fully healed, and the tube retracted. 

"How did it do that...? No matter. LEAP SLASH!" Frog jumped high into the air and pierced his opponent with the Masamune. He turned to Lucca. "Lady Lucca?" 

"Of course. Red Pin!" The previous maneuver was repeated, this time with a burning blade, and again the Mutant repeated the wierd red tube thing. "I get it!" Lucca yelled suddenly. "It's drawing energy from the lower part to heal itself!" 

"So, how shalt we slay it?" Frog wondered. 

"We have to kill the upper half very quickly before it can heal itself! Any ideas?" 

"Yes, actually." The knight smiled. "When I tell ye, cast Flare!" 

"Flare?" Lucca was confused. "But... well, okay!" 

"Excellent!" Frog drew the Masamune again, ran forward... and attacked the lower half. The strange whale-like head repeated its attack. "Now, Lucca! FROG SQUASH!" 

"FLARE!" Frog's attack summoned a humongous Frog Spirit. Seeing how wounded he was, the spirit croaked angrily and stomped with a vengeance. As it did, Lucca's Flare erupted, and the Frog absorbed it, becoming a creature of flaming fury. The Mutant didn't stand a chance; when the spirit left, the upper half resembled nothing more than roadkill which some bum has lit on fire. Without it, the lower half shriveled up and died. Frog performed Cure 2 on himself and wiped his brow. 

"That may have been a little closer than I wouldst have preferred..." 

"It worked, though!" Lucca grinned. "Onward, sir frog!" 

*** 

Lavos Spawn Gui opened up the party with a rising pillar of water that smashed Crono into the ceiling. Ayla angrily Triple-Kicked the creature in the head, shutting off the waterworks. Crono smiled. 

"Thanks, Ayla." 

"Remember, everybody! No attacking the shell!" Marle called out. 

"Gotcha. CONFUSE!" Lavos Spawn Gui felt the slicing and dicing sword attack and took appropriate response; a flaming red explosion that rocked the entire room. Marle shot off an Ice into its maw, and Ayla mauled it viciously. Gui was not happy. 

"REEEEEOOOOR!!!" Somewhere between a roar and a squeal, the monster's noise signified one thing. The dreaded Needle Attack. Every spine on the Spawn's body stood straight up, then fired a cloud of deadly needles which descended on all three heroes. Crono and Marle looked at each other, then looked at Ayla. Ayla smiled, unworried. 

"Crono and Marle cast Lightning big blast and Ice big blast at same time!" The teen and the princess looked at each other again, then shrugged. 

"What the hell. Lightning 2!" 

"Ice 2!" The two elemental attacks flew into each other and solidified into a swirling ball of power. Ayla jumped into it, and suddenly she was moving too fast for Marle to follow; almost too fast for Crono. One at a time, three massive kicks smashed into Gui's head, and each one unloaded a power that made Crono wince. The third one created a blinding explosion, and when it cleared, smoking pieces of Lavos Spawn Gui were littering the floor. 

The next room was filled to the brim with Panels, even one on the opposite door. There were two other doors to the sides of the one they had entered, and the other four heroes were emerging. 

"Looks like we're almost there." Magus noted. "On three. One... two... three! DARK MATTER!" 

"LUMINAIRE!" 

"FLARE!" 

"SHOCK!" 

"GLACIER!" 

"TRIPLE KICK!" 

The massive attacks did their work; when the smoke cleared, not a single panel remained. The seven heroes walked through the door, ready to face their destiny. 

"What the-?" Marle gasped. Right in front of them, floating in a glass tube of green light, was a duplicate of Crono! As they stared, the mocking voice of Queen Zeal came from the air. 

"Behold my first exhibit... a moronic, bolt-brained brat from 1000 AD. This spike-topped idiot thought he could fight mighty Lavos, and led a group of imbeciles to their deaths..." 

"Mind games." Lucca growled. Ignore them. Oh, no..." The entire hall was behind the tube was lined on both sides with more. Sighing, the group went down, abiding Zeal's abuse. 

"A stereotypical blond princess, who couldn't kill a fly, whose attempts at ruling a kingdom would be a total disaster... a would-be scientest with a baked brain, whose every invention explodes or fails... a pathetic wash-up of a knight, who could not save his friend nor deal with the murderer... an obsolete junkpot who failed his family and ran from his past... a brain-dead savage, all muscle and no brain, who brought about a genocide... a false prophet whose only skills are cheap parlor tricks, and who tried to kill the three who brought him up..." 

_She doesn't know!_ Marle's voice suddenly thundered through their heads. _She doesn't know Magus is her son! _

_What?!_ Magus was stunned. They all heard it; apparently Marle could connect them all to each other, not just to herself. 

_You're right_; Robo confirmed. _Her speech indicates that she only knows him from 600 AD. _

_Okay, everybody, keep it quiet._ Crono decided. _I think this may be important, so don't blab it to her._ Now the tubes had duplicates of friends and family from all the ages. Zeal's commentary continued. 

"A sad excuse of a mother, who could only watch helplessly as her son committed suicide..." _Mom..._ "...a pathetic old fogey who pretends to be a king..." _King Guardia..._ "...an uncaring, heartless inventor and his whining, crippled wife..." _Taban and Lara..._ "...a walking freak show without even a body..." _Norstein Bekkler..._ "...a pathetic young king with no skill and his wife who was kidnapped without a struggle..." _King Guardia and Queen Leene..._"...a drunken "explorer" with one eye whose destiny was lizard food..." _Toma..._ "...a "knight" whose best accomplishment was whacking a frog, and who died pathetically, leaving a nation in war..." _Cyrus..._ "...a warrior woman from the future, who tried to kill the man she loved and ended up dying by his hand..." _Atropos..._ "...six blue morons, who gave up their lives for their own brother, then beat him to a pulp..." _The R-Series..._ "...a laughable excuse for a robot, who abandoned his home to go race back and forth on a single stretch of road endlessly..." _Johnny..._ "...a primitive, blockheaded neanderthal, who expresses his love for another by stealing from her friends..." _Kino..._ "...three old Gurus, who turned from Lavos and were sent away to time..." 

_Hey, Gaspar's wearing his Guru suit!_ Lucca noticed. _And now that I look, Spekkio isn't even here! _

_It doth appear the queen canst not see the End of Time._ Frog surmised. 

_Uwaaooo! Ayla head hurt. Good we almost done._

"A... a young zealean princess, who could not comprehend Lavos's power, and was lost forever..." It was Schala. 

_Hello... a bit of uncertainty there._ Magus thought. _Bingo..._ They were at the end of the hall now. A single tube stood in the center, and behind it was the twisted, slaggified remnants of the Mammon Machine. Inside the tube was... 

"And the queen of a magical land, who went on from it to embrace immortality!" The glass tube shattered, and Zeal walked out, smiling triumphantly. 

*** 

"So, you made it all the way here. Impressive, impressive, impressive." Zeal smiled, a smile with no warmth in it. "I'd offer you some wine, but I don't think you'll be staying that long." 

"You've got that right." Crono growled. "We're here for a reason." 

"Oh, really?" She laughed mockingly. "And here I thought you were on a picnic!" She suddenly stopped and glared at them angrily. "You fools. There is no resisting Lavos! All who try end up as dust. You found that out yourself, redhead." She gestured around at the glowing green tubes. "So many dreams that could have been true... so many fates that were open to you... all gone! For you, there will be no tomorrow! Today is your final day, worms!" 

"OH, SHUT UP." Lucca snapped. "Yadda, yadda, yadda. Sheez, what's WRONG with you? Is your plan to kill us by BORING us to death?" Zeal looked indignant for a moment, then shrugged. 

"It is of no moment. I had thought to give you one last chance at life, but now I see suicide is your destiny. Keep joking, little Lucca. I like it when people die happy." 

"Then I doth hope ye be in good humor today, queen." Frog added. "For it may be that ye shall be the one departing this plane." 

"Are all these insults and threats really neccessary?" Marle whispered to Frog. 

"It be customary, lass. Besides, she did start it." 

"Not amused, are you, Princess Nadia? Or may I call you Marle? You like being called Marle by your friends, and I'm one of them, aren't I?" Zeal called to her. "And Glenn... got a new lease on life? I hope you took out an insurance policy." 

"Must we do this?" Robo sighed wearily. "It would be much more efficient if we were to just fight without wasting time with all this senseless bickering." 

"Like you would know, Prometheus. Or R-66Y. My, you have a lot of names, don't you?" Zeal smirked. "Well, if you insist... it is time you succumbed to Lavos! HALLATION!" A ring of prismatic light spread out from her, and whenever it touched one of the group, it drained them of nearly all their life. Crono stumbled to his knees and took out one of Spekkio's gifts. The rare Megalixer washed over all of them, undoing the effects. Around the room, people joined into small groups for multiple Techs. 

"ANTIPODE 2!" Marle and Lucca's ice and fire magics combined, creating a pillar of fire and water that seared and boiled Zeal. 

"BLADE TOSS!" Robo grabbed Frog, dashed forward and released, turning the knight into a Masamune-tipped missile which crashed through Zeal's arm, drawing quite a bit of blood. 

"DRILL KICK!" Crono spun his sword wildly and launched Ayla up off it in a brutal kick. 

"DARK MATTER!" The Ultimate Shadow Attack blasted with pure, unaltered and unrestrained shadow energy from deep space. 

"You... idiots..." Zeal struggled upright and smiled. "I am an extension of mighty Lavos! You cannot defeat me!" The life-draining rainbow shot out again. 

"DINO TAIL!" Ayla stood up and concentrated, and a blue orb appeared over Zeal. Out from it came the back end of a mighty dinosaur. The tail alone was the size of a small bulding; Crono was glad he couldn't see the head. It thrashed around and smashed Zeal flat before disappearing. 

"FROG SQUASH!" A mighty frog spirit jumped down and stomped around enragedly before departing. Zeal struggled back up and spat out a mouthful of blood as Crono tossed out another Megalixer. 

"Idiots... you think you can..." 

"Enough." Marle said calmly as she picked something up off the ground. A perfectly spherical white rock. As she did, a sudden surge of information surged through her. Lucca and Ayla also seemed to feel it, although they were not touching the rock. The three girls looked at each other, all with evil grins on their faces. 

"Girl power! POYOZO DANCE!" All three of them began performing bizarre dance maneuvers as many different colors of light shone from all around. A tiny Poyozo Doll was the fourth dancer, hopping and skipping around wildly. Corno did not understand a single moment of it, but it seemed to have the desired effect; Zeal slammed back, into the slaggified Mammon Machine. 

"N... no... I need time to recover... but what can I... aha! The Mammon Machine!" Zeal began laughing as everything turned white... 

*** 

"Whoa... anybody get the license plate of that bus?" Crono asked as he got up, rubbing his head. Around him, the others were as well. They were standing in a strange blue vortex. And in front of them... 

"The Mammon Machine!" Magus cursed. "It's a pocket dimension among other things, and we're inside it. We need to destroy this representation to escape!" 

"Will it fight back?" Frog wondered. The mage smiled grimly. 

"Yes. At first, it wil do nothing. However, every time we attack it physically, it will raise its defense, and every time we attack it magically, it raises its offense. Eventually it will turn all that energy back on us." 

"Let's strike hard and fast, then!" Crono yelled. "CONFUSE... why the hell did I name it that again?" 

"You six attack." Magus yelled as the teen performed the deadly sword dance. "I'll raise our Magic Resistance. MAGIC WALL!" 

"GLACIER!" Marle and Frog smashed it with the ultimate offensive Blue Magic. The Mammon Machine glowed red. 

"FIRE KICK!" Lucca shot a fireball at Ayla, who absorbed it and lunged forward, releasing it in a kick. The Mammon Machine glowed red. 

"SHO-wait." Robo turned to his leader. "Crono, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The teen slowly smiled. 

"Robo, you're talkin' my language. SUPER VOLT!" Purple, yellow, white and green lightning bolts exploded through the room chaotically with no sense of form or order. The Mammon Machine glowed red one more time, and then a massive pillar of destruction rose from the floor, encompassing them all. 

"See? I told you these'd come in handy." Magus growled when the attack was through. Crono reached for a Megalixer, but Marle and Robo beat him to it. 

"CURE TOUCH!" Marle threw a flood of golden sparkles at Robo, who absorbed and mixed them with his Heal Beam before releasing it on them all. Crono rummaged through his pack and pulled out a perfectly spherical golden stone, acquired from a Nu in the Denadoro Mountains. 

"Time to slag this piece of junk!" He threw it to Ayla, who caught it. Her eyes went wide as information poured into hers, Frog's and Robo's brains. 

"GRAND DREAM!" Frog held up the Masamune as Ayla and Robo danced; then all three disappeared as three huge Masa&Mune Fusions crashed down and went medieval on the Machine. As the heroes reappeared and the fusions faded, the Mammon Machine made a soft hissing noise, then crumpled and melted away. Everything went white again... 

****

JUNE 20, 12000 BC 

"You cretins..." They were on top of the Black Omen. Far below, the planet slowly turned; they were so high they could actually see its curvature. A blood-red moon hung above them. And in front of them, standing on empty air, was Queen Zeal. "Do you seriously believe you can contend with almighty Lavos? I will attain immortality with him, and you will not stand in my way!" 

"Blah, blah, blah." Crono waved her aside. "Look, lady, we've already fought you. And as I recall, we kicked your royal ass. Now, we're going to have a chat with your boss." Zeal stared at him for a moment, then began laughing wildly. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You expect to just waltz over to Lavos just like that? What buffoons!" 

"That's the general plan, yes." Marle nodded. "Now, move aside." 

"Uwa ha ha... well, maybe I should put you out of your misery. I shall be much more merciful than Lavos... I shall end your existence quickly and relatively painlessly." 

"Ha..." Everybody's eyes turned to Magus. "Hahaha. Idiots, both of you. Nothing can live forever. Zeal... a foolish woman, decieved by Lavos." 

"Aah, Prophet." Zeal said sneeringly. "It's time for you to die. I still remember what you did at the Ocean Palace. You forfeited your life in that moment. Are you ready?" 

"No. But you are. You've lived a cursed life for too long, Zeal. I'm going to do you a favor and give you peace. The only way I know how." 

"Oh?" Zeal sounded amused. "And why would you give me a 'gift' like this?" 

"Maybe I'll tell you after you're dead." He smiled. Zeal smiled as well, and then suddenly she began glowing with blinding white light. Robo's and Marle's eyes both grew very wide. 

"What is it, Marle?" Crono yelled. "What's happening?" 

"Something very unpleasant." Marle said weakly. 

In the sky, something was forming. Two long, delicate green hands with clawed fingers, hanging in the air without arms. And between and above them, a cruelly beautiful demon's head. Zeal laughed insanely. 

"Prepare yourselves for your ultimate fate!" 

"Shit! Should've known it was too easy! Spread out, everybody!" A green globe of electric energy formed, then slowly released onto Zeal in the ultimate lightning attack. The head gasped in pain, but the hands glowed red. One of them pointed at Crono and created a magic-draining pillar of golden light, and the other slid over to beat him within an inch of his life. 

"SPIN KICK!" Robo dashed over to Ayla, who was propelled him into the air with a swift kick, then curled up into a ball and launched herself at him. The midair Robo spiked Ayla straight into Zeal's face before landing. The queen growled. 

"Worms! Taste this! HEXAGONAL MIST!" Blue energy coalesced as a strange geometric shape formed of some unknown liquid released its power on them all. Crono, already weakened, collapsed. 

"AH! LIFE 2!" Marle concentrated her power, and a blue beam of light shone on him from the heavens. A moment later, Crono got back up. 

"Okay, no attacking the hands. Go for the head!" The leader jumped into the air, caught Lucca's flames on his sword, then dashed downward multiple times in a pillar of fire. 

"Well, that leaves out most of my spells..." Magus growled. Around the head, a globe of shadow energy erupted, fully encasing it, then melted back down. Zeal frowned. 

"Very cute... here, you can play with one of MY toys! SKYGATE!" Yellow beams of light rained down onto Magus in a circle. While she was occupied with him, Crono, Marle and Frog were preparing another attack. 

"ARC IMPULSE!" Marle prepared an Ice 2 while Crono jumped forward, bouncing off Frog's head. He then slashed downward as Frog went sideways. Where they met, Marle released her Ice 2, and they cross-cleaved the frozen Zeal. 

"Idiots! You think that can stop me?" One arm fired a yellow laser at Frog, and the other released a shadow beam on Crono. 

"DOUBLE BOMB!" Robo took one of Lucca's Mega Bombs and combined it with his Area Bomb module, creating a huge, fiery explosion. Immediately following, Magus released another Dark Bomb spell. Zeal was quite visibly starting to fail. 

"You will all DIE!" A rainbow beam of light shone out from the demonic queen, draining them all of their energy. Frog and Lucca staggered up. 

"FROG FLARE!" A massive frog spirit jumped in and began enacting a dreadful retribution for the wounds its master had suffered. Then the Flare eruped, and the flaming frog increased its attacks tremendously. When it left, the two hands commenced their counterattacks, but they did little that the Hallation hadn't done earlier. With the maneuver successful, Crono threw out a Megalixer. 

"BLAZE KICK!" Lucca fired off two streams of flames into Ayla, who absorbed them and use them to propel herself into Zeal's head with three shattering kicks, causing an explosion with each. Zeal's face contorted into a dreadful mask of rage. 

"THAT'S IT! NOW YOU SHALL PERISH! DARK GEAR!" Two starry rips similar to Magus's Dark Matter appeared and blew out purple lightning between them, then exploded in a huge display of raw power. All seven were caught in it. Zeal laughed insanely. "HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! You are DEAD!" 

_Now! Now, while she's off balance!_ Magus suddenly straightened up and looked into her eyes. Zeal sneered. 

"What is it, Prophet? Are you going to beg for your life?" 

"No. And my name isn't Prophet... mother." Zeal suddenly froze in place, making no sound. 

"M... mother... Janus?" She shook it off as Lavos's control resumed. "Ha! It matters not! You will die here as well!" 

But that brief moment of distraction was all they had needed. In that moment, Crono had removed from his pack a perfectly spherical blue stone from the Giant's Claw and thrown it to the mage. Now, Magus reached his hand up and caught it without turning around. Lucca and Robo ran over next to him, and Magus looked up again. 

"Game over, mom. OMEGA FLARE!" All three of them dashed to the head, and Magus and Lucca began moving around in a circle so fast that it seemed there were two of each of them, while Robo launched high into the sky. A huge laser, thick as a bus, rushed out of the sky and swept across Zeal chaotically, creating explosions wherever it went. It stopped on Magus and Lucca, and then, there was an impossibly powerful explosion of Shadow Fire energy. Everything was a blinding white; only the dark shapes of Zeal's head and hands could be seen. And then they dissapeared, burned away into nothing. 

The white light cleared and Zeal stood before them, human again. "N... no... impossible... for you to defeat me... Lavos! Come to my aid!" She raised her hands, and far below, a massive circle of glowing blue appeared underneath the Omen. "Ha ha ha ha ha! At last, you shall face mighty Lavos himself! He will rip you... EH?!" From the gate blasted out a massive dome of white that exploded acros the Omen. For a moment, nothing happened. And then Zeal shrieked horribly, a shriek filled with a horrible, primal pain and suffering, and fell to the ground, clutching at her head. At that moment, there was a horrible crashing and rumbling. The Black Omen was coming apart at the seams. 

"It be collapsing." Frog chuckled dryly. "It appears Lavos doth not respect failure." Queen Zeal moaned softly as her eyes opened, and they no longer held the same ancient, cruel malice that Crono had always seen in them. 

"My... name was Zeal... I was the queen of a magical kingdom above the clouds..." Somehow, Crono realized that Lavos's rising had affected her as much as it did the Omen. The woman and the building had been linked somehow, and now that they had both failed, Lavos rewarded them equally. Zeal had finally been freed, but it was not to last. The Queen was dying. The fallen queen looked at them all. 

"I... I thank you all. You have freed me from... Lavos's twisted domination. And now, I shall finally rest..." She grimaced in pain momentarily. "Now... please, come here... Janus... my son..." Obediently, Magus walked over and kneeled down. "Janus... can you forgive me? For all I have done... I destroyed Zeal... I ripped you from your family... and then there was... Schala..." 

"What's done is done." Magus said shortly. "Zeal is gone, and we remain. It was not your fault; Lavos controlled you. I absolve you of blame. You are still my mother." She sighed, as if a great weight had left her shoulders. 

"Thank you, son... thank you..." She turned her gaze to Crono. "Both of you. Now is the time. You and the others must rid this world of Lavos in this moment. If you fail, this world dies. You MUST NOT. Destroy Lavos. For the world." The queen looked back upon Magus, even as her eyes were clouding over. "Janus... my little boy, all grown up now, and so big... so strong... make us proud. I will always be with you... my son." She released one last quavering sigh, and was still. Magus said nothing, but stayed there, just looking at his mother. A dozen different emotions played across his face. Finally, he stood up and silently sent her into the Black Hole. 

"...I'll have Spekkio bring her out when we're done. The least I can give her is a decent burial." He frowned then, and his face held the most rage Crono had ever seen on those hardened features. "But first, we have one little bug problem to take care of." The last of the Black Omen disintegrated, and the seven fell down into the blue portal. A Gate of tremendous power. Finally, the end of their quest stood before them. The seven calmly looked up, staring into the face of their destiny. THIS was why they had born. THIS was their purpose in life. The time had come, and the destined ones were ready to save their world. 

And Lavos awakened. 

****

DECEMBER 31, 1999 AD 

"There it is." Crono said. "Lavos." They were standing in some kind of blue Gate-like zone, and Lavos looked down on them. Most of the monster was completely covered in huge, iron-grey spikes. What little of the undershell that was visible was red and black. On the bottom were several huge claw legs, and in the center of the bottom front, the head. It was composed of three beaklike sections, with nothing even resembling eyes. As the group stood, it sensed them somehow, and the mouth opened in a battle cry. All the seven felt the huge mind touch them, running through their memories. After a moment, it stopped. 

_"What the hell was that?" Lucca muttered. Crono and Fritz shrugged. The mystery was solved at the end of the bridge, as a huge mechanical Dragon Tank rolled out! Behind it, the Chancellor screamed. "Go, Dragon Tank! Crush them all!"_

Lavos roared again, but this time it was a metallic shriek. Two long-legged insects with heads like his walked out from the shell on either side of the head as if it were insubstantial. 

"It's imitating the Dragon Tank." Lucca realized. "Geez, how pathetic. One of those will be immune to electricity and fire." 

"No problem for me." Magus smiled. "Dark Mist!" A roiling fog of shadow magic rushed past, sweeping away both bugs and hitting Lavos. The mental touch returned. 

_At the top, they entered a wide room, with one big door at the back. However, as they moved towards it, a huge robot fell out of the ceiling and knocked them all flying! "**Guardian activated. Executing Security program... executing Bit program...**" The three exchanged one glance, then lept to their feet, ready to fight. Two smaller robots of the same model floated down to the sides, and the fight began._

A pair of disgusting yellow blobs crawled out. "Guardian. Big deal. ICE 2!" Marle shot off a ring of blue energy which created a pair of giant crushing lumps of ice. The blobs were squished. The mental touch again, landing on... 

__

At the end, the path went onto dry land again, and into another chamber. Inside, they all screamed at what lumbered toward them. It was like a throwback to prehistoric times. A massive, blue-skinned reptile with horns, spikes, claws and fangs everywhere you look. When they stopped screaming, it snarled at them, "Humans! You dare come in here!" Crono managed to stammer out, "We... we were told by the Chief of Medina to come here. We... we were told about you by Melchior..." The beast roared fearsomely. "Ozzie XIII has no power over me! And the fact that you know Melchior means nothing! Death to the Mystics' enemies!" 

"Heckran. Ha. LUMINAIRE!" A massive globe of green electrical energy exploded on the head of the beast. Lavos returned to mind probing, and found... 

__

At the end of the bridge, Ozzie was waiting. Marle was the first to speak. "I don't suppose you'd wait up for us next time if we asked nicely?" _Ozzie pretended to consider it. "Hmm... no, I don't think so. Especially since there won't be enough of you left to wait up FOR." Crono scoffed at this. "Oh, right. And who's gonna do that? You?" Ozzie grinned evilly. "No. Him." The three turned to see a massive, two-story skeleton with a pair of strange skeletal wings. Ozzie laughed. "Go, Zombor! Crush them!"_

A single bug walked out from the head, and Lucca laughed. "Zombor. Loser. Robo?" 

"AREA BOMB!" Robo stood near Zombor and released a firey explosion from his own body, immolating the bug. 

"ICE WATER!" Marle and Frog combined their magic to form a floating bubble with ice inside. It crashed into Lavos's head. This time, the mental probing selected... 

__

"Ow... what a kick... they're pretty good, eh bro?" Mune observed them carefully. "Yeah. The only one better was Cyrus." "Well, ya know what that means. No more goofing off!" "Yeah! This time we're serious!" Lucca almost exploded. "THAT was goofing off?" The twins ignored her and stood across from each other, going into fighting stances. "With Masa's bravery and..." "Mune's knowledge!" "TWO BECOME ONE!" As they spoke the last part together, they charged and a hole opened up in the air. Flashing with prismatic colors, they disappeared in... and a nightmare came out. 10 feet tall, the yellow demon had a fat gut but incredibly muscled arms. The head sported a pair of horns, and the eyes shone with fury. "TIME TO DIE, LITTLE ONES!" 

"Masamune? I think not. FLARE!" Fire power poured into Lucca for several seconds until she was glowing with it, and then released it in three gigantic explosions of red energy. More probing resulted in... 

_Azala was not amused. "Trying to be funny? We'll see how much you're laughing in a moment! Heeeere, Nizbel!" "Who or what is a Nizbel?" Crono asked Marle, who had gone white. "You don't want to know." As a huge form lumbered into view from the back of the cave, Crono went pale as well. "Oh, shit." It seemed a good thing to say. Nizbel was as big as Masamune had been, but where it had been yellow and fat, Nizbel had tough-looking grey scales and the figure of a master bodybuilder._

"LUMINAIRE!" 

__

The room was pitch-black. As they walked forward, a voice called slowly, "Neuga, Ziga, Zimba, Zom..." The three slowly walked forward, and as they did, blue fires lit on either side of them. "Now the chosen time has come..." They kept walking, and when the blue fires stopped, so did they. "Exchange this world for-!" Blue fires, one at a time, formed a circle in front of them, connected to the lines to their sides. In front of the circle stood a massive, four-armed demon statue, each arm holding a red flame. The floor of the circle was decorated with strange murals. And standing in the middle of the circle, with his back to them... "Magus!" Frog drew the Masamune, and Crono & Marle followed. Their enemy did not speak at first, but was silent for an agonizing moment. "It... it's that stupid frog!" Magus finally growled. "Kissed any princesses lately?" Crono glanced at Marle, who was ignoring the comment. Frog, on the other hand, was smiling. "I hath gotten used to it. In fact, I rather enjoyeth this form now. And I oweth it all to ye!" Here, he raised the holy blade. "I hath something for thee... a simple gift, as a way of showing my gratitude..." Magus's head snapped up, although he did not turn. "Ah! The Masamune! Ozzie didn't mention that... now I see how you got past the Trio... and I bet you're just dying to use it!" From seemly nowhere, a wind began to blow. "The black wind howls..." Magus smiled. "Okay... give me your best shot..." He turned, and drew from nowhere a massive scythe. "..If you're prepared for the void!" 

"DARK MATTER!" 

__

The door led out to a long bridge, extending to a solitary tower behind the lair. As the three ran down to it, they saw that the front of it on their level was a huge opening. A pair of baleful red eyes glared out from it, and Azala stood on the upper-right rim of the opening, facing away from them. "Red... star... FALL!" As he chanted, they saw a very noticable red star, showing even in the day. "Stain the earth... RED!" He turned around, and they saw on his face a kind of hopeless despair, mixed with an insane resolution. "The stars have foretold that the Reptites will fall this day. However, we shall not simply hand the earth over to you!" He blew a whistle, and roaring, a THING came out. It was a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex, bound in a metal harness. Azala laughed as he jumped onto it's right shoulder. "Mwa ha ha! With this Black Tyrano, I can finally exterminate you filthy apes before my fall!" 

"SUPER VOLT!" 

__

As they climbed the last, completely vertical chain, the sky quickly darkened,and they could hear lightning. "Huh, boy..." Crono grunted as he heaved himself up. The mountain's peak was surrounded by many spiky edges. The back was a huge gorge, and before them, a podium held a large crystal block. "I wonder what that is?" Marle said softly. Ayla, ever the impetuous one, walked over and tried to grab it. The moment she touched it, however, it flickered and disappeared, and an angry rumbling came from the gorge. "That doesn't sound good!" Crono yelled over the shaking. A moment later, its source was revealed, as a gigantic stone guardian rose! The monster was purple and covered with spikes, and sported two massive arms but no body below the waist. The ugly face stared down at them, then grinned horribly. 

"ARC IMPULSE!" 

Lavos went through many forms; from Dalton toYakra XIII, from Son of Sun to Mother Brain, from the Terrible Trio to Zeal. Finally, though, it lost its patience. With a roar of rage, the mental probing ceased, and destruction rained from the heavens. 

***

Each of the seven heroes looked up into the sky calmly as Lavos's destruction poured upon them. This was the true test of strength. If they withstood this attack, they had a chance. The flaming death fell, covering them all as it exploded, sending up massive clouds of smoke. And when it cleared, they were all still there; a little bruised and battered, but still there. 

"Just like DBZ." Lucca observed. "ANTIPODE 3!" Marle concentrated her ice magic, and Lucca summoned a deadly Flare spell, and both mixed in a gigantic beam of fire and ice that covered Lavos's entire body. The beast roared. Ayla grabbed Frog and launched into the air, then dropped down in a head kick, the knight leading with the Masamune. Lavos screamed. Robo grabbed Crono by the feet and spun him around at incredible speeds with the teen's sword extended. Lavos roared and screamed. A black portal opened around the head and blue lightning struck out, attempting to scramble their brains. But the Vigil Hats protected them. The ultimate shadow magic poured massive amounts of energy into the head. Lavos writhed, his clawlike legs churning. 

"DELTA STORM!" Crono, Marle and Lucca took up positions around the head to form a perfect triangle. Between them, a huge three-sided beam of power appeared. First, it struck with Fire. Then with ice. And finally with lightning. Lavos opened his maw in agony, and from a space above it, millions of needles shot up and poured down on them. The group ignored the pain; they no longer feared this thing. Crono saw that the head was badly scorched by their attacks. One good direct strike was all that was needed. "Frog! Catch!" From his pack, the teen removed a perfectly spherical silver rock, taken from a Nu in the prehistoric, and tossed it to the knight. Frog caught it and grinned, waving Ayla and Robo over. 

"SPIN STRIKE!" Frog held up the Masamune as Robo and Ayla charged up power, then leaped into the air. The robot and the cavewoman dashed over and began blasting around the head, pummeling at incredible speeds. A channel of pure physical force was created, and Frog crashed down through this, legendary sword first. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then Lavos screamed one last time, and the head exploded with a force that propelled them all far backwards, leaving a ragged, smoking hole in the shell where it was. 

"Unbelievable..." Marle sais softly, staring at the hole. A trickle of blood seeped out. "We actually did it... we won!" 

"It's... it's over?" Frog asked slowly. Lucca sighed and shook her head. 

"I wish it was over... but it's not. Notice something? This wierd time void we're in hasn't disappeared. Lavos must still be alive." 

"Ayla not give up!" Ayla sniffed at the hole. "In here! Lavos in here!" 

"Inside...?" Robo blinked. "Very well. There is no other choice." 

"We'll get to the bottom of this..." Magus growled, and he walked into the hole. The others followed. 

*** 

"Ugh... it reeks in here." Marle said, pinching her nose. "We're in pretty deep..." They were walking down a straight tunnel, glowing green. Neon green liquid pooled around their feet. Ayla sniffed at the air and made a startled exclamation. 

"Lavos smell... stronger!" 

"This be eerie..." Frog muttered. "It be worse than Magus's place.." 

"No turning back now." Magus growled. "We're going on. And last time I checked, my castle didn't smell like rotten yak. Well, except for Ozzie's quarters." The group continued, occasionally stepping over unidentifiable lumps. 

**_Hear me, all of you..._** The strange voice rang through their heads. Lucca frowned. 

"What? Who is that?" 

**_So, you are the ones foretold... I've been waiting for you... _**

"Waiting...?" Frog asked. 

**_It is hopeless to come against me. Turn back..._**

"No. Nice try, Lavos." Magus chuckled. "We've come this far. We'll just keep going, thank you." 

**_Foolish mage... you will die, just like your mother..._** Robo suddenly began emitting a siren. 

"Aah! Power detected up ahead... unbelievable!" 

**_You see? My might is unstoppable... continue, and you will face pain like none you have ever felt before... _**

"Ha." Crono grinned. "I think not. If you're so big and tough, then why are you trying so hard to get us out? I think you're not as strong as you say you are. So just shut up, because we're coming to kill you." There was silence for a moment. 

**_VERY WELL!_** Lavos roared. **_COME TO ME, THEN!_** Suddenly, the floor shifted, and they all tumbled into a circular pit. In the center was a gigantic figure. It was attached to the floor at the waist, with a pulsing diaphragm just above. Green-skinned, the thing was vaguely humanoid. Two thick arms were crossed across the chest, and four long tubes attached to the back and the ceiling. A pair of spindly, skeletal arms each grasped a tube. The head was strange and alien; above a strange stripy bulge where the mouth and nose would be on most creatures, there were two eyes, burning with hatred. Robo made a noise of surprise. 

"Amazing! Scanners indicate that it contains the DNA of every lifeform on the planet!" 

**_Yes..._** The thought came from the monstrosity in front of them. **_I have been here for a long time, after all... _**

"It's not a shell..." Lucca murmured. 

"What be ye talking about, lass?" Frog queried. 

"The outer body. It's not a shell. It's a cocoon!" The scientest yelled. "The entire time, this body was developing inside!" 

"This is... the true Lavos?" Marle gasped. Crono nodded, remembering how on Death Peak, he had seen a warped green hand reaching for him as they escaped through a Gate. 

"That's why it came here. Lavos has been using this planet to develop its true body. It's almost done now." 

**_When this body is complete, I shall be invincible!_** Lavos gloated. **_Your planet shall be mine! _**

"Not yet." Lucca shook her head. "If we kill you before you're finished, all your plans go down the crapper." 

"Ayla fight! Not give up!" Ayla said again. "Make Lavos dead!" 

"Sorry, Lavos." Magus sneered. "But you've finally met your match in the seven of us. The exterminators are here." He drew his scythe. "And we've brought plenty of Raid." 

*** 

**_Very well! I shall open the Doors of Doom!_** Lavos gloated as its hands pulled open two plates on the chest, revealing lasers which sweeped over the entire party, creating explosions wherever they went. 

"GATLING KICK!" Crono and Lucca combined their magic into a swirling orb of power which Ayla grabbed and slammed into Lavos on a kick. The effect... was jack squat. 

"What?!" Crono choked. 

**_Ha ha ha... I warned you! You will die, worms! _**

"Let's try something else..." Marle muttered. Her and Frog's second-level magics combined into a rushing tide and iceberg that slammed into Lavos head on. 

**_AAAARGH!_** The main body and head were still undamaged, but the arms were frosted over. Angrily, the beast shook the ice off. Magus shook his head mockingly as he released a Dark Matter. 

"Take out the arms. Can't you think of anything more original?" 

**_So you've discovered a weak spot. That won't save you!_** Sonic blades burst out from the palms and cut through Magus and Crono. 

"Let's try firepower again!" Lucca cackled. "FIRE ZONE!" Crono and Robo moved between the arms, where Robo grabbed the teen and began spinning him wildly, sword out. Lucca threw two streams of fire, and Crono caught them whirling them with his blade. Then Robo picked up the pace. Faster and faster and faster, until a massive blast of red energy exploded out. The arms burst into flames, and the one on the right melted off. The left arm shook off the fire and shot off a stream of golden sparkles at the head. 

**_Aaah... time to power up the main body..._**

"Take out other arm!" Ayla yelled. "TWISTER!" Crono stood on Robo's head and Ayla stood on his. The three of them began spinning, spinning, spinning, until they had created a raging whirlwind. The left arm went down, and Lavos's eyes turned bright red. 

**_Are you done with the warm-up? Goood! Now, let's get on with the main course! OBSTACLE!_** The black void of brain-scrambling lightning completely failed. **_WHAT? How?!_**

"Vigil Hats, stupid." Marle snapped. "And by the way, you're mixing your metaphors." Crono jumped into the air and caught her blue energy on his sword, then drove it into the demon's brain, creating a huge block of ice around it. Next, he chopped at it madly until the block fell apart in pieces. Lavos was not particularly amused. 

**_It will take more than an ice-shaving to defeat me, whelp! SHADOW SLAY!_** Poisonous green clouds washed over them all... and did nothing. **_ACCURSED HATS!_**

"Aw... is wittle Wavos maaad?" Magus mocked as he fired off another Dark Matter. 

**_I'll show you mad, mage! Flame Battle!_** A line of fire flew out from Lavos and hit Magus in the face, setting his hair on fire. 

"OWOWOWOWOWOW! Damn, I wish I still had my elemental shield!" Magus cursed, rolling around to put it out. Frog and Ayla stepped up to bat next to their leader. 

"3-D Attack!" Crono and Frog dashed forward, cross-cleaving it, as Ayla slammed down from above. 

"It's a pity you weren't wearing 3-D glasses!" Lucca commented as she threw a Mega Bomb. "If you were, it would've been 9-D! Wouldn't THAT be something to see?" 

**_Mock me if you wish, but now you shall learn your lesson in pain!_** Lavos exulted. **_SHADOW DOOM BLAZE!_** A massive, sweeping red beam came from between his eyes and washed over all of them. A moment of nothing passed, and then the entire room erupted in flaming death. The fires were actually white-hot, and every one of them screamed as they felt it sear through them. Then the fires receded. Frog and Robo immediately sprung up, and their healing magics combined into one huge beam that instantly repaired all the damage done by the Shadow Doom Blaze. 

**_Heal as many times as you want! It makes no difference! I will destroy you utterly! _**

"Crono, we have a problem." Robo reported. "I can sense that Lavos is emanating some type of dark power that constantly increases its own attack. The longer this drags on, the stronger Lavos gets." 

"Then we'll take it out fast and hard!" Crono yelled. "Spire!" Frog leaped into the air and plunged the Masamune into Lavos's face, where it acted as a lightning rod for the lightning storm raging around the inside of the cocoon. When the electricity was cleared, Frog recovered his blade, ignoring the retaliatory Obstacle and Shadow Slay attacks released by the furious Lavos. 

"Going down the same path again? How unorginal." Marle quipped. She released a hail of blue sparkles at Lavos, and as it drifted around him, a pillar of Flare energy erupted and mixed, blasting Lavos with both fire and ice. Seemingly unperturbed, Lavos shot off another Flame Battle and met an answering Dark Matter before repeating Shadow Doom Blaze. The fire was even hotter this time, but the group endured and were healed by Frog and Robo's Cure Beam. Crono and Ayla then attacked with a Falcon Hit, and Lavos screamed in pain. 

"We've almost got him!" Crono observed as he landed. 

**_Hahahahahaha... too little, too late, little human! This attack here will finish you all! _**

"Crono, he's right!" Robo beeped alarmingly. "If he releases the energy he is charging, we're dead!" 

"Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't." Magus said calmly, walking to the front. "Blondie, geeky, get up here. Spike-top, the black rock." Crono handed over the stone from Zeal, wondering how Magus knew of it. "DARK ETERNAL!" The dark mage moved over to the foe and stood, chanting, while Marle and Lucca danced around him. He then turned to Lavos, raised both hands and began moving in a ring at such speeds, there appeared to be eight Maguses. Three humongous blasts of Shadow Energy followed, each one so tremendous that it filled the entire room in less than a second. 

**_Noooooo..._** Lavos moaned. **_You can't have... you're only humans... ARRRRGH!!!_** A blinding flash, and the huge body was gone. In its place was a smaller, human-sized, humanoid creature. **_You... you will all pay for this! _**

"It looks... almost human..." Marle whispered. "I can feel it's vitality... it's like it'd taken a little bit of life from everything that's ever lived..." Frog shook his head. 

"What is this?" Lavos stood up. Most of its skin was an orangeish-pink, with a white latex-like substance covering part of it, including both huge arms. Certain sections, including most of the bald head, were a deep purple. The face was horrendous; empty eye sockets and a missing mouth, showing through to a pulsing voice box. 

**_Fools... did you think I came to this planet for the fun of it?_** **_You should consider yourself honored... you are the only food ever to have witnessed a Core... _**

"Food?!" Crono yelped. "FOOD?!" 

**_I believe that is the correct word, yes... you have such a primitive language. Food. What else would you call something which you raise to consume? Your entire species owes its existence to me! _**

"I see..." Lucca whispered. "Raised like cattle, to satisfy your growth..." 

"It is.. too much to bear!" Frog gasped. "We hath been reared like animals? Are lives hath been for naught?" 

"All life on this planet, grown in herds to be consumed when neccessary... we're just cows to you, huh?" Magus growled. 

**_Yes._** Lavos laughed. **_It is part of the life cycle of our species... find an undeveloped planet as a spawnling, tunnel into it, raise it as you grow, create a core by combining the DNA of the dominant species with your own... then when maturity comes, feed on them and release more spawnlings to continue! I was almost at my mature state... until you destroyed my body! Now, I have to start all over with a new planet! Your Earth is worthless to me... I shall simply obliterate it as I leave!_**

"Lavos's goal... to use our DNA and evolve beyond anything ever seen..." Robo reported. 

"No!" Crono suddenly shouted, pointing his sword defiantly towards the beast. "We are our own people... we have our own lives! You cannot control us!" Ayla nodded, agreeing. 

"You no have right! Ayla strong! Ayla grow on Earth! Ayla and Earth good! But Lavos not from here! Not part of planet's life! This not your planet!" 

"She's right!" Marle decided. "This is mine and Crono's... Lucca's and Frog's and Robo's and Ayla's and Magus's world... this is everybody's... and I mean EVERYBODY'S world! Everybody except YOU, Lavos!" 

"I am not a natural life form... humans built me!" Robo declared. "Even if your story were true, which it is not, you have no power over me! I am my own person... and so is everybody else!" 

**_What? You DARE call me a lier?_** Lavos asked disbelievingly. 

"He's right!" Lucca suddenly growled. "You didn't create us... Ayla and her people and many other lifeforms existed before you came! You haven't done SQUAT! Your story's impossible... and you're going down! You can't expect to toy with an entire planet and get away with it!" 

"My life retaineth its meaning!" Frog shouted at the monstrosity before him. "We hath our own will... and mine be telling me that ye hath lived long enough!" 

"You bastard." Magus laughed angrily. "You think that just because you think you're more "advanced" than us, you have the right to do what you please? You ruined my life. You're sure as hell not ruining anybody else's! You're through, Lavos! This is the end for you! Your life ends here!" Lavos stared out of empty sockets. 

**_You actually think you can destroy me? You think you have the power? You are only humans! _**

"And you... are only a BUG." Crono retorted calmly. "In summation... GET OFF OF OUR PLANET." 

**_Very well, then! I shall show you myself! Prepare for direct extermination!_** Lavos raised its hands, and in each, a small fleshy floating pod appeared, then floated to the sides. The chamber melted away, and they stood in a massive null timewarp. 

_This is it._ Crono realized. _This is the time. The entire planet is depending on this. Everybody in the world is watching... _

_More than you know, kid!_ Came a familiar voice. Crono looked around incredulously. Around them, insubstantial, were the ethereal forms of millions... billions... of people! In the front were family members, and behind them close friends. Zeal, Atropos, and the R-Series were in the first row, with halos over their heads. Azala was similarly haloed in the second row. Crono thought about this for a moment, then decided he really didn't want to know. He might not have liked the answer. Behind them were rulers, then other higher-ranking people, proceeding down to soldiers, civilians and beggars as they went further back. They were from every civilization Crono had seen-prehistoric, Zealean, medieval, current and future-as well as some he hadn't. At the very back on a decidedly uncomfortable-looking tin bench were the fiercely glowering Terrible Trio. Above all of this, Spekkio and Gaspar sat in an announcer's box, the latter in his Guru uniform and the former as a pink Nu. Their mouths were moving, but Crono couldn't hear any words. 

_Don't worry about it, kid._ Spekkio spoke mentally. _We're just here to watch; we're not allowed to interfere. It's all up to you know. _

_The entire world..._ Crono's mind boggled at the thought. _Every person from all time is here... watching us. Relying on us. Our entire existence is at stake here. If we lose, the entire planet loses. Forever._ Crono's jaw set, and he moved into battle position. _And I will NOT let this planet and these people down. I take up the task of saving this world. _

**_PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR OBLIVION!!! Lavos screamed. _**

***

**_Mwahaha..._** Lavos gloated. **_I have the power to control time itself! Watch!_** Around them, the null timewarp suddenly shifted, and they were standing in the Hunting Range of 65000000 BC. 

"Cute trick." Marle growled. "Crono! Robo! LIFE LINE!" The two addressed channeled their powers into hers, and a slew of small white cherubic shapes flew out of the heavens and into the seven heroes. 

"What's that do?" Lucca called as she shot at a Bit. 

"If we get knocked out, it'll wake ya back up automatically!" Crono yelled back. 

**_Heh heh heh... well, isn't that cute... but it's WRONG!_** Lavos yelled. **_GRAND STONE!_** Above them, a truly massive grey boulder formed. Lucca choked. 

"It's the size of a friggin' house! INCOMING!" The group sprawled as the boulder fell onto their heads. Magus angrily threw out a Megalixer as Crono, Lucca and Ayla moved up. Crono and Lucca's elemental magics mixed into a swirling orb of power that Ayla carried high into the air, then kicked it straight into Lavos. 

**_ARGH!_** The timewarp shifted again. Now they were standing in the Ocean Palace of Zeal. 

"Ya like it? There's more." Crono snarled, dashing over to Marle and Frog. Crono bounced off the knight's head and went high, then swept down with his sword at the same time that Frog cut horizontally and Marle powered both blades with ice. SMASH! 

**_Pitiful worms, you'll pay for that!_** Lavos yelled furiously, clutching the gash in its side. **_INVADING LIGHT!_** Three beams of incredibly bright light began flashing down onto the group, pushing them back. 

"Oh, no you don't." Crono and Frog dashed forward, cross-cleaving it as Ayla dropped down from above. Lavos buckled, and the scenery changed to Magus's Castle in 600 AD. The wizard frowned. 

"I forgot... you also wrecked my house! That's another one I owe you, Lavos! DARK MATTER!" 

**_Put it on my tab. _**Lavos laughed. One of the litle pods flew over to Magus and encased him in a cocoon of multicolored light, and the other dashed into him at high speed. 

"DELTA FORCE!" All three parts froze as a floating pyramid of energy assaulted them with lightning, fire and water in turn. The main body and the left pod both fell to the floor, but the right pod was nearly undamaged. _What's up with that?_ Crono wondered. 

**_I'm not done yet!_** Lavos shrieked from its place on the floor. **_EVIL STAR!_** A gigantic red orb appeared, floating above them all, and was slowly ground away to dust by some incredible power. All the group choked as their life energy was neatly divided in half. With a final chuckle, the humanoid body melted away into nothingness. 

"Looks like we won..." Frog murmured, using a Megalixer. 

"No... no we didn't! That wasn't the core!" Robo suddenly announced. "The core is the right bit!" They all turned as the addressed pod suddenly turned pale and sickly. "Without the decoy, its Max Defense has been lowered! Take it down!" 

"Ayla kill! Make dead! Marle! Lucca!" The three girls began dancing around too fast for anybody, even Crono, to track them as a little poyozo doll hopped about and a brightly flashing strobe filled the room. The Core shrieked under it. When the attack ended, both pods slammed into Ayla in the familiar X-Strike. 

"Over here, butt-ugly!" Crono taunted as he, Frog and Robo all slammed into the Core, the former two with their swords and the latter in a crushing tackle. The pod flailed. 

"GRAND DREAM!" Frog held up the Masamune as Ayla and Marle danced around it. All three faded out as three huge Fused Masa&Munes fell down and basically went medieval on Lavos's sorry ass. Eventually, all three faded out to be replaced by the heroes. Frog was immediately slammed with another X-Strike. 

"Hey... why's the core glowing like that?" Crono wondered. Lucca frowned. 

"I dunno, but I don't like it! Let's pick up the pace a notch!" Crono and Robo moved over to the Core, where Robo grabbed the teen and began spinning him wildly, sword out. Lucca threw two streams of fire, and Crono caught them whirling them with his blade. Then Robo picked up the pace. Faster and faster and faster, until a massive blast of red energy exploded out. The Core took the attack, but then began flashing wildly. Between the two pods, a starry rip appeared, and out walked a twisted, humanoid figure. 

**_I'm baaaaack!_** Lavos exulted as the time around them changed to the Millenial Fair in 1000 AD. **_Did you miss me? _**

"Not particularly." Marle quipped. "Final Kick, boys and girls!" She and Crono combined their powers into a swirling orb of energy, which Ayla dashed through. The cavewoman then moved at an incredible speed that only Crono could track, unloading three kicks of an almost obscene power into Lavos. The humanoid staggered, then got back up. 

**_Bad girl!_** He actually HOPPED over to the cavewoman, then floored her with a massive swing of his arm. Every one of the heroes winced at the thud except Magus, who just stared. 

"...Did he just pimp-slap her? You did! You pimp-slapped her!" 

**_Oh, very funny! Since you're such a comedian, allow me to grace you with a song!_** A pair of spotlight landed on him, and Lavos began warbling an incredibly bad tune. Nothing happened. **_Oh, yes, I forgot about those damned hats. _**

"You keep doing that, don't you?" Magus smiled. "I think your memory's slipping a bit, old boy. You ARE getting on in years, after all. Tell you what, how about you retire and we just save the world without you?" 

**_But then who would you kill? Can't save the world without killing a villain!_** Lavos countered. 

"Good point." Magus conceded. "Besides, I don't feel very merciful today. Oh well." Magus and Lucca dashed to Lavos and began moving around him so fast that there appeared to be two of each of them while Robo vaulted into the sky. A massively wide laser poured out of the heavens and swept over Lavos several times, leaving explosions in its wake. Finally, an explosion of dark fire of absolutely incredible energy erupted. As Lavos roared in agony, the area shifted to one of the ruined labs of 2300 AD. 

**_You will all perish! None can contend with my power! Feel the agony of this time! DREAMLESS!_** A white triangle of energy floated in and began slowly rotating, seperating into segments. As it opened, untold amounts of destructive magical energy flowed out, bringing all seven to their knees. The attack continued for several agonizing moments, and then the triangle sealed itself again and disappeared. Robo threw out a Megalixer. 

"TWISTER!" Crono stood on Robo's head and Ayla stood on his. The three of them began spinning, spinning, apinning, until they had created a raging whirlwind. Lavos released a string of obscenity as he fell down under the assault. 

**_THAT'S IT! CRYING HEAVENS!_** The entire place stood still for a moment, and then a thick white bolt of accursed energy came from the sky and struck Crono down. 

"AAAAIEEE!" Marle shrieked. But a cherubic shape appeared, and Crono got back up. 

**_IMPOSSIBLE! NONE CAN SURVIVE THAT ATTACK! _**

"That Life Line was a good idea. Come on, girls. The three of us started this, and now we'll finish it." Crono, Marle and Lucca formed a triangular position around the humanoid, then filled the space with a triangle of pure energy. First fire, then ice, and then finally lightning. The humanoid melted down again, and as before, the Core's defenses went down. 

"We need to strike fast and hard before it revives the humanoid again!" Crono ordered. "A simultaneous attack from both sides. Frog, Robo and Ayla, Spin Strike from the left. Marle, Lucca and Magus, Dark Eternal from the right. Remember, simultaneous!" The group all nodded, then moved into their positions. 

"SPIN STRIKE!" "DARK ETERNAL!" Frog held up the Masamune as Robo and Ayla charged up power, then leaped into the air. The dark mage moved over to the foe and stood, chanting, while Marle and Lucca danced around him. Crono raised his sword. The robot and the cavewoman dashed over and began blasting around Lavos, pummeling at incredible speeds. Magus turned to Lavos, raised both hands and began moving in a ring at such speeds, there appeared to be eight Maguses. Crono crouched down, ready to move. A channel of pure physical force was created, and Frog crashed down through this, legendary sword first. Three humongous blasts of Shadow Energy followed, each one so tremendous that it filled the entire room in less than a second. Crono charged forward. The Masamune plunged through the Core at the same time as the Magic Blasts washed over it. In that exact moment, Crono seemed to disappear and reappear on the other side of the Core. A moment passed, in which everybody was completely motionless not even daring to breathe. The Lavos Core hung in the air without moving. And then, it fell apart in two pieces as thick purple blood appeared on the Rainbow. 

"And so it ends, Lavos." Magus said calmly as the seven walked over to encircle the fallen Core. Around them, Crono was aware of the ethereal crowds cheering like mad. The Core twitched, its two halves leaking blood and other things. "Good fight, though." 

**_No... you can't... I... I am immortal... I'm a god... you're just food... you can't... _**

"You are pathetic." Marle sneered. "Don't you get it? We're every bit as good as you. Better, because we don't need to cause misery to survive." 

**_But... you're only..._**

"We're ONLY the people who just royally kicked your ass." Lucca finished. "Doesn't that suggest anything to you? Or do we need to set you on fire or something to make our point?" 

**_Imposs... ible... I am the strongest being in the universe..._**

"The strongest single being, that ye may be." Frog frowned. "But together, we didst triumph. What one can do, many can do better." 

**_How... could this have happened... it was a certainty... pure, logical fact..._**

"There is always room for error." Robo reminded him. "Nothing is absolutely certain. An absolute certainty is an impossibility." 

**_I was so close... I would have owned this world, and made it over to suit my own needs..._**

"Uwaoo!" Ayla howled. "Lavos dead! Ayla win! Lavos shut up and die!" 

**_After all I've done... all I've labored for..._**

"You stupid bastard." Magus laughed. "Don't you GET IT? That's WHY you're dying! We're here because of what you did to us! You brought this on yourself." 

**_I can't... die... I am... immortal..._**

"Oh. Really?" Crono turned to his teammates. "Immortal, huh? Who feels like testing that theory?" Six nods. "Okay, then. Lavos, I think I speak for all of us, and for the entire planet..." 

"GET OUT OF OUR PLANET!" The roar came from every single person in the world. The planet rejected Lavos. At that moment, all seven of the heroes plunged their weapons (or fists) straight into the core. And with a final, despairing shriek, it exploded into nothingness. The great leader turned to face his troops. Every face was calm, silent. They all looked at each other, solemn. And then, as if responding to an unspoken cue, they all broke into humongous grins and began yelling at the top of their lungs. 

"WE DID IT!!! HAHAHAHAHAAA!!" Frog and Ayla were capering, hand in hand, in a strange little dance of glee. Crono grabbed Marle and kissed her fiercely as Lucca laughed. Even Magus was joining in, as he and Robo gave each other high-fives. The universal giant grin looked incredibly wierd on the mage's normally grim face. 

"We did it, tinman!" 

"WOOOOOOT!" Lucca pulled out a jug of poi and took a big draft. Crono looked up. 

"Awright, you two. Get your asses down here." Slowly, the last two members of the group floated down to the party. Spekkio shook his head. 

"Well, kids, you did it. Imagine... humans destroying Lavos. Sounds impossible. But you did it. And you know what THAT means!" 

"Oh, come on!" Gaspar protested. "That was months ago when I was in my 'Gloom and doom' phase! I shouldn't be held accountable for-" 

"Hand it over, cheapskate." The shapeshifter insisted, and with a muttered curse, Gaspar gave him 200 Gil-then screamed as Magus threw him up in the air. Spekkio stared, then moved over to Lucca. 

"You gave the magic man poi, didn't you?" 

"Just a little..." The scientest admitted. Gaspar crashed to earth. 

"OW! Janus, what the hell was THAT?" 

"Payback!" Magus laughed. "You used to do that to me all the time when I was little, remember?" 

"Oh, yeah." 

"People, people. Settle down." Crono waved his hands in the air. Amid a few mumbles, they did as he said. "Thank you. We've done it. Lavos is dead, and the planet is saved. WE WON. Now, there's just one question left." They all bent forward, anticipating this. What was the question? What was left unanswered? Spekkio winced, getting an idea. _Goddamn kids... they're ALL asking this question! THEY are not gonna be happy..._ Crono smiled. 

"How do we get out of this dump?" Universal faceplant. 

"THAT'S the question?!" Lucca shrieked. 

"Well, yeah. I mean, do YOU know?" 

"Well, no." She admitted. "BUT STILL!" 

"WHOA!" Everybody stared at Robo, who had spoken. "I think the question's answered... INCOMING!" The time zone, which had frozen in the ruined 2300, slowly changed into a beautifyl, futuristic paradise. Then it suddenly flashed to 12000. Then to 600. Then 65 Million. Then 1000. Then back to 2300. 600. 1000. 12000. 600. 65 Million. 2300. 12000. 1000. 600. 2300. 65 Million. 600. Faster and faster and faster, until everything was just a blur. And then, with a rushing noise, everything went black. The last thing they heard was Crono's analysis. 

"AS AN ENDING, THIS REALLY SUCKS!" 


	19. Chapter 18: A Fair To Remember

**__**

Chapter 18: A Fair To Remember 

****

JULY 1, 1000 AD 

"Crono..." Darkness. "Crono..." _Not this again..._ "All right, men, get the bucket!" _What the-?_ Crono woke up sputtering as the soldiers doused him with a bucket of water. "Whu... what's going on here?" The lead soldier went and opened the window, then turned back, a grim frown on his face. 

"The king has summoned you to the castle. Your stay of execution has been cancelled. I suggest you move quickly." 

"Uh... okay." Crono mumbled, still groggy. He stumbled downstairs. "Uh... hi, mom. I need to go to the castle..." 

"That's nice, dear." She said calmly over a cup of tea. "Be back in time for breakfast!" 

"Uh... okay..." It was only after he had left the house that his wits returned to him. "HUH?!" _What am I doing back here? I was fighting the Lavos Core! Why am I suddenly back home, sleeping in bed! And where are all the others? Does this mean they're all back in their houses too? But who could do this kind of thing? And why? And... ah... grr... bah... _

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The teen screamed at the sky. A nearby sparrow chirped, looked at him and resumed looking for seeds. Other than that, he got no response. "Agh... well, I'll go to the castle." He frowned. "Wait a sec... why wasn't mom surprised to see me here? Something stinks here, and it's not me. Oh well, I'll look into it when I get back. Wait... stay of execution cancelled?!" Crono froze. _Oh, this is so NOT cool... I'm in deep shit here. ...If there's another Yakra behind this, I swear I'm gonna launch him into orbit._ The teen went through the forest and entered the castle, where the guards immediately ushered him into the throne room. King Guardia looked down. 

"Crono, I have summoned you because of one question. Where is my daughter?" 

"Your majesty..." Crono faltered. "I... uh..." The king glared down at the sputtering young man imperiously, then turned to the Chancellor. 

"I think that this is fairly obvious to see, wouldn't you, Chancellor?" 

"Indeed!" The old man said gravely. 

"FATHER!" Marle burst in suddenly behind Crono. "Listen! Crono didn't do anything! We were off-" 

"Saving the world?" King Guardia finished for her. Crono's and Marle's jaws dropped to the floor, and the king and chancellor burst into peals of laughter. "As you young people say... gotcha! Bring 'em out, Lucca!" From the back halls, the scientest led a group. 

"You ended the Mystic Wars and brought peace to a nation." King Guardia XV announced. Frog winked. 

"You saved the world from destruction, and created a paradise in the future." Doan proclaimed. Robo nodded. 

"Crono beat Reptites!" Kino yelled. Ayla bonked him on the head. 

"You helped a small group of humans survive the destruction of a kingdom." The Elder of Algenny said softly. Magus said nothing, and Crono frowned. 

"Okay, all of you. What's going on here? How did you get clearance from Gaspar and Spekkio, let alone whoever makes the rules for them?" 

"It was their idea!" King Guardia XV smiled. "They brought all our ancestors and descendant from the times you visited together, and we decided that the performance of you all merited a party, at the least." 

"Ancestors and descendant?" Marle gasped. "I knew about King Guardia from 600, but... you're saying Kino and the Elder of Algetty are ancestors and Doan's my descendant?" 

"That's right." Came a familiar voice from behind. "And they're not all we brought!" 

"Why am I suddenly getting the feeling I do NOT want to turn around?" Crono complained. He did anyway, though. 

"WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!" The crowd cheered. Friends, family and colleagues from every time zone were there. Everybody from Johnny Turbo to the Terrible Trio (waving "Go Magus!" signs) were there. Silently, the other members of the group walked up and flanked him. 

"Hope you like it." Robo smiled. "It is..." 

"Hey, Prometheus! What's wrong with you? Can't you say hello to your family in public? I'm crushed! Wounded! Hurt to the quick!" Robo's eyes widened as he heard that voice. 

"Icarus?" The crowd parted to reveal six blue robots and a pink one, all waving huge "Prometheus #1!" foam fingers. Atropos dashed over and grabbed him in a bear hug that would have killed a grizzly. 

"You doof! When you made Lavos into roadkill, the future was changed! No Mother Brain! We're all alive, and the future is a paradise!" Robo's eyes were shining. 

"It is all I could have hoped for.." 

"You think that's good?" Icarus laughed. "Wait until we get you back there to our estates!" 

"Estates?" Robo was confused. 

"Yuuup! With everything hunky-dory, all the stuff we made brought in tons of money! The others insisted we name our mansion after you. 'Prometheus Manor' sounds a little ostentatious, I know, but waddayagonnado?" 

"That's enough, Icarus." Orpheus smiled. "Give the guy a break before he has a heart attack. Or a processor freeze, whichever you prefer." 

"This display of familial love is heartwarming. Truly." Magus said. "But we need to get moving if we want everything ready be sundown!" 

"Everythng ready?" Crono was confused all over again. 

"That's right!" King Guardia XXXV smiled. "It's the last night of the Millenial Fair, and tonight we celebrate... you!" 

*** 

The last rays of the sun disappeared, and moonlight shone over the plaza. The Mayor of Medina walked to the front of the square with some dancers. 

"The world is saved! The evil from below is destroyed! Come, walk along with our heroes. It's a Moonlight Parade!" Bright lights appeared all around as the imp led everybody in a ring around the plaza. After one lap, people began breaking off. 

"Hey, Crono." Marle tapped the hero on his shoulder. 

"Yeah?" 

"Let's go walk around together like we did at the start of this." He smiled. 

"Sounds good to me." The two strolled around idly, taking in the sights as different people celebrated. 

"Damn thing..." Icarus growled as he wrestled with the strength tester. Kino smiled and took the hammer. 

"KIIIIIINOOOO!!!" The caveman yelled as he slammed the tool into the tester... and broke it. Icarus blinked. 

"How many points is that?" Crono shook his head and moved on. 

"Hey, look! It's the races!" Marle pointed. Crono took a look and began laughing uncontrollably. The normal racers had been replaced by both King Guardias and the Algetty Elder. 

"I should do this more often!" Guardia XV laughed. "Oh, drat!" This had come when Johnny Turbo had passed him and sped across the finish line. 

"I'm still the MAN!" 

"I don't fell like betting tonght. I wonder what Norstein Bekkler's... oh, geez..." Marle suddenly moaned, pointing to Norstein Bekkler's Tent. Crono peered in and groaned as well. Spekkio, Bekkler, Toma, Doan, the Gurus, Taban and the Trio were in there, drinking everything in sight. Crono counted at least fifteen different kinds of alcoholic beverages. Lara shoved her way in past the drunk fools and grabbed her husband. 

"Taban, don't just lie around like a sack of potatoes! Dance with me!" Taban smiled. 

"Anything for my lovely wife!" As he walked out, the inventor looked at Crono. "Here, have a drink! You're the hero tonight, Crono!" The two took to the dance floor. Crono smiled as she saw Lucca sitting on the bench, watching her parents without a word. 

"Why isn't Lucca partying?" Marle wondered. 

"She has more important things to do." Crono told her. "Look. For ten years, Lucca's parents have been steadily drifting apart. For the last year, Lucca was the only thing that kept them together. But when she stopped her mom's legs from being maimed, it looks like she stopped all that from happening too. For the first time in a long time, she has a perfect family, and I think she just wants to enjoy that for a while." 

"Oh..." Marle said softly. "Let's go to another area, Crono, or I'm going to start crying..." The two moved up to the secondary plaza, where Leene's Bell hung. Marle smiled at the sight of it. 

"Remember, Crono? This was where we met!" 

"Oh, yeah... my hip still aches in damp weather." The teen joked. He suddenly began laughing. "Oh, boy... this won't end well." Marle followed his gaze to where Ayla was attempting to conduct a conversation with Gato, Lucca's robotic battle trainer. 

"...You might be right. Let's go watch the drinking contest before the explosions begin, shall we?" 

"Good idea." Crono agreed. "I don't want to be around for the climax of that conversation." The drinking contest was among Robo, his six family members (Besides Icarus, who was still debating the strength tester with Kino) and Frog. Atropos was in the lead currently, with the knight a close second. Underneath Leene's Bell, the Queen for which it had been named was chatting with Crono's Mom. The latter looked up as her son and the princess approached. 

"Crono... I still find this all so hard to believe! My son, saving the world! Well, try to stay home more often from now on! It's a real problem when the person who's supposed to feed the cat is away! It even ran away for a few days a while back!" 

"Ah heh heh..." Crono chuckled nervously, remembering Ozzie's fall as he moved away. "So... now, what do we do, Marle?" Crono wondered as they left. Marle smiled a little evilly. 

"Is that Gato robot still up there? And does it still sing?" 

"Yeeeeaaahh... it's a bit battered and bruised, thanks to Ayla, but it works..." 

"And are Spekkio and his pals still getting drunk?" 

"Yeeeeaaahh..." 

"And we still have Spekkio's lucky disco record..." The grin spread to Crono's face. 

"Yeah..." Snickering, they inserted the record into the slot in Gato's back, then pushed him into Bekkler's Tent. The screams could be heard throughout the entire fair. Laughing wildly, the two ran out and headed for the music stage. Robo and Icarus where in the rafters, casting bright spotlights onto Ayla, who was doing a wild spinning dance. It went well for several minutes until she went out of control, flew off the stage and crashed into Magus. Screaming curses in some vile foreign language, the mage chased her around the fair. 

*** 

"Okay, everyone." Magus yelled across the fair. "It's 11:00. Party's over." The Gurus and Spekkio exited Bekkler's tent and helped him shepherd everybody. 

"Okay! Prehistoric over here, Zeal over here, Medieval over here and Future over here... hey, you! Nice try! Get back where you belong!" Grumbling, the Terrible Trio exited the 2300 group and walked back to the Medieval section. When everybody was ordered up, Gaspar took center stage. 

"Awright! We're gonna go up here for a moment, so stay in your groups and come when we call you!" The three Gurus, Spekkio and the Seven heroes walked back to the Telepod, where it had all began. 

"What's this?" Marle asked. "Why does everybody have to leave now?" The others in the group looked at each other for several moments until Gaspar stood up. 

"...This is it, Marle." Gaspar announced. "Time to go back home. The Gates are weakening... at midnight, they will close forever." 

"What?" Crono yelled. "But why? We already figured out the Gates don't really come from Lavos!" 

"Because their job is done." Spekkio answered. "The Gates have done what they were supposed to, and now the Entities, as you call them, are cleaning up. They are always very methodical about these things..." 

"That brings something else to mind." Lucca frowned. "Spekkio, how did you manage to convince the Entities to allow this? You know, bringing all these people here for the party? They wouldn't do this for just anybody... to hear you tell it, they're very, very strict." The pink Nu looked down. 

"Well... I have a certain... relationship with them, you could say." He suddenly smiled. "What kind of people can't do a favor for their little brother, eh?" All seven group members simultaneously faceplanted. Magus was the first to recover. 

"Their BROTHER?! You're... you're..." 

"Yuuuuup." Spekkio laughed. "Where did you THINK I came from? Texas?" 

"That does explain a lot..." Robo mused. 

"This conversation is absolutely fascinating, everybody." Gaspar growled. "But we don't exactly have time to waste. If you want to say goodbye, do it now." 

"Goodbye..." Marle murmured. "So this is it.... I'll never see you all again... everybody's going back to their own times. Ayla's going back to the prehistoric to lead her people through the ice age... Frog's returning to the medieval era to serve his rulers... Robo's going to explore his new Future... and Magus..." 

"It was a tough call for me." The dark mage admitted. "I kinda wanted to go back to 600 AD and whack those three yahoos around some more. But I decided on 12000. I'm going to look for Schala... she wasn't at the Lavos fight or the party." 

"We couldn't find her. Sorry, magic man." Spekkio apologized. Magus waved him down. 

"Sa'right. I got nothing else to do. And I know she's not dead." 

"How?" Marle wonderd. Magus just smiled and pointed at her Pendant. 

"That's how. What, you thought it was just a coincidence that yours and her Pendant looked exactly alike? She's your ancestor, princess. I'm you're great-great-about-a-million-greats-uncle." 

"But dad told me the Algetty Elder was my ancestor!" Marle protested. Magus blew a raspberry. 

"Well, DUH. He's MY uncle. He's not a direct ancestor, but he's part of the family tree." 

"That explains a lot." Robo observed. "Such as how he and Doan resemble each other so much." 

"Yeah." Magus looked at them all. "So anyways, don't cry for me. My life could've been a lot better, but I'm happy with it." 

"Uwaaaooo!" Ayla howled. "Ayla sad! Me miss people!" She shook her head. "Chief must be strong... chief must not cry... chief must... AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!" With a howl, she began beating her head against the floor for several minutes. When she stopped, she looked much calmer. "Ayla okay now. See all again someday!" 

"Parting be such sweet sorrow..." Frog intoned. "We hath had a truly grand adventure, which must eventually give way to mundane reality, and thusfore, we art required to bid fond farewell to dear friends and return to our own home time zones, although fear not and be of good cheer, for like lady Ayla, I doth see a joyous reunion in the future for all here." 

"Did he say all that in one sentence?!" Marle choked. Lucca nodded wearily. 

"Yes." The scientest stood up. "Sigh... look, everybody. We had fun, but now we have to say goodbye. Don't make this any worse for us... if one person starts crying, we all will. Be good... take care of yourselves... and don't any of you blow yourselves up, okay?" With that, the scientest sat back down and Robo took the stand. 

"I believe I am returning to the greatest change. My entire time has been changed radically for the better with Lavos's destruction. I look forward to exploring the new world with my family, and to work on new projects." He smiled. "I must confess, I was worried if Lavos's destruction would erase my existence, but the appearance of the others has confirmed it. The future has a place for me." 

"Well, I hope you all enjoy yourselves." Gaspar grunted. "Me and the fruit..." 

"HEY!" Spekkio interrupted. "I'm a lot of things... more than even YOU know, Gaspy... but I am NOT gay!" 

"I meant fruit as in bananas." He retorted. 

"Oh." 

"Can I finish now? Anyways, we're returning to the End of Time, and we're taking Melchior and Belthasar back with us." 

"Huh?!" Crono gasped. 

"Yuuup." Melchior nodded. "There's not gonna be much need for weapons from now on... but I like it that way. So I'm retiring. As for Belthasar... he needs a few centuries to work off the "bad" future's effects on him. You don't just go insanse every day." The blue-robed Guru next to him nodded a bit nervously. Finally, Crono stood up. 

"Well... this is it." He looked at them all, smiling. "We sure had some good times, didn't we? I like to think they outweighed the bad ones, and that's all we can really hope for, isn't it? We were only together for six months, but it seems more like six years. It's been fun, all of you. And just remember... no matter how far apart we are, we'll always be a team. And I couldn't ask for a better one." 

With that, they began shepherding people through the Gate, which apparently connected to all times. As Ayla and Kino prepared to go, Marle stopped them. 

"Hey... Kino, make sure you have strong kids, or I'll be in trouble!" 

"No worry!" Kino guffawed. "Ayla VERY strong!" 

"Huh?" Marle was confused. "But I sa... wait... are you saying... Ayla?" 

"Kino dummy!" Ayla shook her head, blushing. "We go now!" She threw the caveman in, the turned, blew them all a kiss and disappeared. Magus walked up next; his uncle had already gone. As he was about to enter, he suddenly turned around and looked at them all. 

"Look. For the record, I still think you're all a bunch of insane idiots. But listen... if you ever decided to take off on another one of these wild, crazy adventures..." 

"We'll be sure to invite you along." Crono finished. Magus nodded and turned to the Gate. 

"Magus!" Frog called. The mage turned around again and looked silently at the knight. Frog looked back calmly, then slowly raised his sword in salute. Magus raised his scythe in the same way. They both stood there for several moments, just looking at each other. 

"They're not saying anything." Marle whispered to Crono. 

"They don't need to." He responded. "It's one of those 'guy things.'" Finally, the mage lowered his scythe, and looked at them all one last time. Then he actually winked, then turned and left. Frog stepped up. 

"It be time for me to leave." He smiled. "Goodbye, all of ye." They nodded, and he began to enter. 

"Wait!" Marle called. He turned back. 

"Long farewells never were neccessary..." Marle went over and kissed him on the cheek. Frog yelped and jumped backward, disappearing into the Gate. 

"Well, these things DO end with the princess kissing the frog!" Robo joked. "I'd better go... I have a lot of work to do!" 

"Do you already know what your first project is?" Lucca asked him. The robot nodded. 

"Of course. My first project is to discover the secret of time travel!" Laughing, he disappeared. Wordlessly, the Gurus and Spekkio walked into the Gate, one at a time. Before going in, Spekkio turned and winked. 

"Hey, guys. Don't stress. I managed to negotiate a loophole. It's up to you to find it, though. See ya around!" He vanished. Lucca looked at her watch. 

"11:59. One minute. We made it just in time..." She sighed. "We should probably dismantle the Epoch. Its work is done as well." 

"What are you, brain-dead?!" Marle yelled. "We can't dismantle Epoch! It was as much a part of this as any of us!" 

"Hey, get back here!" Crono's mom yelled as the teen's cat ran between them. Crono blinked as his mother ran up as well. "Crono, look at this! Your cat's running away because you didn't feed it!" Suddenly, the furry animal jumped into the Gate! "Gracious! Come here, you!" The three heroes almost had collective apoplexy as Crono's Mom jumped in, and a moment later, the Gate exploded! 

"OH, THAT'S JUST GREAT!!!" Marle shrieked. "That Gate will never open again, Crono!" 

"Well... shit." The teen voiced his opinion. 

"Heh heh heh..." Both of them turned to Lucca, who was laughing. "I'd say I'm not the brain-dead one... did both of you foget? We may not have the Gates, but we still have a time machine!" 

"Spekkio's loophole!" Crono grinned. "Epoch!" 

"Well, what are we just standing around here for?" Marle inquired. "Since she's from this time, there's no telling where she went! We've got no choice but to go after her! Let's move!" 

"And if we happen to run into a few old friends on the way... nya ha ha!" Lucca laughed. 

"Oh, Nadia!" The King was waiting for them under the place where Leene's Bell normally hung. Strangely, it was gone now. "We have a present for you!" He walked into a tent, and a moment later, came out hauling a huge, brand-new bell with Taban and Norstein Bekkler. "Nadia's Bell!" The three men began hanging it up, but Lucca tapped her dad on the shoulder and made an obscure hand motion. Taban grinned and looked at Bekkler, who grinned back, and the two of them let go and walked back into the tent, leaving the King alone. 

"Wha-? What happened... Taban? Bekkler? Ooof... this thing's heavy..." 

"Sorry, dad!" Marle giggled. "I gotta go again!" The three heroes ran out as Taban and Bekkler returned with a bag labeled "Heatworks". 

"Shall I light one up?" Taban asked. The King groaned. 

"Uh... no, Taban. Actually, I could use your help here... I think my back's going out..." 

"Here we go!" 

A moment later, the sky was filled with brightly colored explosions of light, as a strange flying vehicle flew around the world at incredible speeds, then vanished in a flash. 


	20. Epilogue

**__**

Epilogue 

****

JULY 1, ALL TIMES 

Across the world, a small spark flew. At least from a global view, it was a small spark. But if one looked closer, you could see it was more. Over forests and plains, deserts and islands, lakes and rivers, mountians and castles, towns and oceans it flew. Through prehistoric wilderness, newborn snow, medieval order, familiar skies, and futuristic wonders. This spark did not go unnoticed... 

On a high mountain called Denadoro, two robots sat together. One gold and one pink. Together, they watched the small spark sail across the sunrise, then turned to each other and exchanged a passionate kiss. Below, in a sprawling mansion, six blue robots were hard at work, constructing new wonders for this land. 

Above a lava-filled range of volcanoes, two people flew. Both wearing purple furs and having blonde hair, they rode on Dactyls together, enjoying the view. When they saw the spark cross the noonday sun, they immediately changed course, and flew alongside it, waving. 

Across the Zenan Bridge, a force of soldiers escorted the Royal Family and their official protector, an amphibian knight. The knight looked over the bridge and smiled as the spark soared across the sunset, reflected in the beautiful water below. He then turned to the other side of the bridge, where the Mystic Ambassador was waiting to discuss the peace treaty. A small, undersized Hench in robes too big for him. 

On a snowy mountain, a solitary mage stood at the peak, watching the spark soar across the night. Below him, on the cape north of the Last Village, was the peaceful grave of a queen called Zeal. The mage smiled at the spark, then flew away, resuming his search. 

The spark... it was not a spark at all. A scientest, a princess and a hero flew on Wings of Time, across the world which they had saved. A wonderful planet, green and blue and filled with life. It is truly a wonderful world we live in, friends. Enjoy it, and live in it, for it is ours. The spark glimmered for a moment, then flew all around the world in only a few seconds before disappearing in a flash. 

"Well done." The pink nu smiled, turning off his television. "Well done indeed... my young saviors." 

**__**

Author's Note 

****

DECEMBER 3, 2002 XD 

"Hey, big brains!" Spekkio called as he walked out of his room. "Is that dumb book done yet?" 

"Is he always like this?" Melchior grumbled. Gaspar sighed. 

"Mostly, yes." The three Gurus got up from their desk, then turned to look at the shapeshifter. "Yes, it's done, Spekkio. All that's left is the Author's Note." 

"Pity the poor sap who gets stuck with that!" Spekkio laughed. "So, who's doing it? Ozzie? Robo? Maybe you'll drag that moron Dalton back here?" The three Gurus said nothing; they just looked at him with an amused smirk on their faces for several moments. "...You're not serious!" 

"We have every confidence in you." Belthasar said sardonically. Grumbling curses, the shapeshifter made a u-turn and headed back into his room, slamming the door behind him. A moment later, he popped back out. 

"Hey, wait a second! Isn't this supposed to be a separate section?" 

"It WAS." Gaspar growled. "But then those Henchheads at FF.net decided Author's Notes can't be separate anymore. Friggin' bureaucrats. So, we had to reorganize a bit and stick this in with the Epilogue. I just hope nothing got misplaced in the switchover." He watched as Alfador flew past outside on butterfly wings. "Sonofabitch. Well, so much for THAT. I guess we should just count ourselves lucky that this change won't apply if the big guy ever puts this up somewhere else. Now get to work, you lazy bum." Spekkio sighed and withdrew once more. Inside, he sat down at his desk and glared at the papers which had mysteriously appeared. 

"Slaggin' fraggin'... 'Hello, everybody. As you might have guessed, this is the Author's Note.'" He rolled his eyes upward. "No... really? Ahem... 'Some of you might be wondering why Spekkio's here, then. If you want the truth, I'm in a traffic jam above Medina, so I called ahead and had him start. I'll be around for the end, though.' Well, I should certainly hope so! I'm sure as hell not doing this ALL by myself! 'First off, let's get the credits and copyrights done. Obviously, this was written by me, Magus523. This novelization is copyright me. However, the game was made by Square, so all characters, places, etc., etc. are copyright them, With the possible exception of Murray the Midgit. I'm still not too clear on that, so I'm not gonna debate it. But under the Equal Rights Act, I still have copyright to the novelization, so don't get any ideas about ripping it off unless you enjoy excruciating pain. Ahem... I've written this, but two other people deserve specific mention. The first is Deathscythe11062, my little brother. He can be a pain at times, but he really came through for me here as Beta Reader and Editor. Much thanks. The other is Erico, a longtime writer and good friend of mine. He's always been able to give me a good analysis on what I've written and tell me what I need to do better. More importaantly, though, is that in Chapter 12, he was actually the one who wrote Marle's scenes. Those were quite important, and I didn't think I was ready for them yet, so when he offered to write them I accepted happily. Thanks.'" Spekkio stopped talking and willed a mug of beer into existence, took a big swig and continued. 

"'I'd also like to thank all the other fanfiction writers (and real authors) who helped inspire me. There are far too many of you to list here, but if you're on my "favorite authors" list, then you belong here. It's not much, and I doubt very many of those there will actually read this, but thanks anyway, guys. Finally, a big thank-you goes to the regulars on Superbard.com and Project Freakdom (PF URL); these two message boards are where most of my friends visit, and they've been a great source of moral support.'" Spekkio sighed. "Sheesh, bud! These are the Thank-Yous, not the friggin' encyclopedia! 'Spekkio's probably making some inane comment about getting on with this, so I'll move on.' HEY! 'Now, the next order of business is explanations. You might have noticed that there are several things in here that aren't exactly canon with the game. I'll just skip over the dialogue changes, because you can't just write a novelization by copying word for word what the game says. Trying to do that will immediately land you in the section labeled 'unsuccessful writers.' I'm sure I just offended at least a few people, but life's hard sometimes. Now, then... the first significant change was the prison breakout. The reason for this was that I doubted they'd actually let Crono keep his sword; plus, I wanted to put Taban and Norstein Bekkler into the spotlight a bit more. Bombing the hell out of the dungeon (And Yakra XIII's bedroom... hee hee!) is more plausible, I think. While I'm on the subject, it's kinda unrealistic that the Tank would just plummet through the bridge, and if it did, the rest of the bridge would certainly collapse as well. So I changed it. The chancellor survived his fall by reverting to his true form; if Yakra XIII can take that many Luminaires, he can certainly handle a four-or-five story fall. I strongly advise against personal experimentation, however. Okay, the next really big discrepancy is Medina; if they hated humans so much, it's kinda unlikely that they'd just let Crono and gang walk away. The neccessary smooth-talking also gave me the opportunity to delve into Mystic society a bit; a great deal of bullying determined most things. We don't get into any really huge discrepancies for a while now. In fact, not until close to the end... but Spekkio can stop now. I'm finally here. Lemme just say hi to the Gurus, then I'll come in to finish.'" Spekkio stood up. "Well, finally! It's about friggin' time! Could ya get any slower?" 

"I heard that, Spekkio!" The man in the doorway said. He could have been the twin of the dark sorcerer Magus; however, a pair of glasses were perched on his nose. "Don't make me rewrite an afro on you!" 

"Yeah, yeah..." The pink Nu walked over to his TV and began vegging out. The strange man sat down at his desk, then looked up at the ceiling and sighed. 

"Okay. Let's get one thing clear right now, because I KNOW there'll be at least ONE person yapping about this if I don't. This is NOT self-insertion! It's the goddamn Author's Note, for chrissakes! Bah, I remember back in my day, back when self-insertion wasn't so frowned on... we had some good ones then, ya know!" At that point, the man's voice trailed down to a mutter, and after a few grumblings about red dragons and green-haired reploid girls, he started up again. 

"Some of you fans have asked questions. Well, to explain the rest of the discrepancies, I'm gonna answer them, against my better judgement. First off: Why are the "entities" plural? The game refers to a single "entity", which if the characters are right created the gates and is controlling their destiny... well, here's the thing. The characters know just about nothing about the Entity(ies). So, how do they know there's only one? It's more probable that there's several, IMHO. So that's the way I wrote it. As for Spekkio's relationship to them in the last two chapters... well, he had to come from SOMEwhere! I'm NOT saying Spekkio is the Entity(ies). I'm saying he's a relative. I am NOT getting into an Entity discussion here. Plus, it sets up for a better Moonlight Parade. Work with me here. Then there's another: Why didn't Toma's date of death on his grave change? Actually, it did. I just couldn't find an excuse to have the chars go back to check. While I'm on the subject, I know that Toma isn't in the Giant's Claw with you in the game, but it plays out better this way, I think. Hold on... I missed one. Backtrack, backtrack. Okay, right after Crono's revived, the group is under attack by Lavos, and escape with Gaspar's help. Why is this? Heh... blame the dramatic in me, I guess. I just couldn't resist. Plus, from Gaspar's comeback speech, it seems you didn't take Epoch back anyways. I needed a reason." The man looked at the next paper and groaned audibly. 

"And now we have the infamous 'Flea question'. I believe Flea is female. My rationale? Well, first there's the obvious physical stuff. Also, notice that after that one moment of confusion in Magus's Castle, Flea never says anything about that for the rest of the game. I think she's just playing mind games. It's a fairly common tactic, although I will admit I've never seen it used in quite THAT way before. As for Chrono Cross references, I am not taking any of those into account. This 'fic is written independently. I do not like Chrono Cross, and I never will. Period. End of discussion." A wry chuckle. "Usually, I express my feelings on CC in a much more... interesting... manner, but I kinda have to be polite here. At any rate, this includes letting the Trio survive. It's my view that in-game, Ozzie survives the fall, and since it's POSSIBLE to have both Slash and Flea live through the fight, I did it that way. It has nothing to do with CC. I won't be putting down my Ozzie theory here; if you want to hear it THAT badly, send off an e-mail or use AIM. ...Enough of this. I'm getting off-topic. In my eyes, Flea's female, and I'm not changing it, so don't even bother trying. At this date, I doubt any of us could really change each other's minds, so why not just say we disagree and leave it at that? As for those of you who agree with me on Flea, good for you." The man rubbed his eyes. 

"I see why Spekkio didn't like this. Let's move on to the last discrepancies. First, we have the Black Omen. That one was simply because I felt every member of the group had a right to come for the final climax. Thus, I redesigned the Omen to make it a more "Kefka's-Tower"-like place. Then there's Zeal; in the game, she's never freed of Lavos's control. She dies under it. I, for one, felt gypped at no goodbye scene between her and Magus. So I wrote one. And now, finally, we come to the Moonlight Parade. When I first saw the people from the other times coming, I thought 'Hey, this is nice. But why don't they bring EVERYBODY? So, I wrote that in. Fun. I think that's all the discrepancies, so let's move on to the References. I've put a hell of a lot of them in here; from video games, tv shows, books... even one to another fanfiction. Some of them have been discovered by you reviewers, but others remain unfound. There are far too many to list here, so I'll leave the business of finding them up to you. It'll sharpen your mind." The man smiled. 

"I've been at this a long time... about a year. Although it seems like a lot longer. You know, when I first started, I never thought I'd actually make it all the way to the end. It was just a diversion; something else to do when I was bored. That's changed now, though. If you want your writing to come out good, you have to respect it. This fic' has become a part of my life, and truthfully, I'm going to be sad to see it go. Even now, I'm still not completely aligned to the fact that I'll never be writing with these people again. But I've already stated my opinions on Chrono Cross, and I doubt I'll ever have the skill to write my own sequel, so here it ends. Putting this up has a definately different feel to it. Whenever I put up a normal chapter, it's just another step in the saga. This, however, is the end of it. As I put this up, part of me is screaming 'No! Stop! Wait! It doesn't have to end yet! I think I can still make the Lavos fight better!' But I have to ignore that. Sigh... a great author once said something. 'When you write, you put something of yourself into it. A little piece of your soul goes into what you write, and try as you might, you'll never get it back.' Now I know what he meant. Crono, Marle, Lucca, Frog, Robo, Ayla, Magus, Spekkio, and all the others will be a part of me forever. And nothing will ever change that. I hope all of you have enjoyed reading this little story of mine. But it's time to go." 

The strange man got to his feet and put away the papers, smiling still. "But don't worry; just because I'm bidding this world goodbye doesn't mean I'm done writing. Anybody who's interested can see my next work starting December 25th. Christmas Day, for those of you not in the know. Until then... be good." 

The strange man raised a hand, and there was a blinding flash of light. When it cleared, he was encased in black, metallic armor with a purple crystal in the forehead, and he held a purple beam scythe. With a whistle, he walked out the door. 

**__**

And so, my children, the tale ends. And while history continues, unlike mortal pen and print, the stories hereafter are as yet unrecorded. 


End file.
